TOVJ - Life on Curse
by Sgt-Sparki
Summary: The comatose Delophane Vamaii is captured in her own psyche and re-experiences the terrors of past deep within the vast nebula known as "Curse". After a terrifying setback, her Tenreii fleet orders a full retreat from the infested Mothership and she is soon after reassigned to an unusual allied clanfeet of Turanic Raiders as a sole liaison officer...
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes

Thanks for stopping by. Quick comments;

Although this is a stand-alone, it is loosely a prequel to the ongoing fanfiction „Tales of the Vjel-Amaj" and is focused upon the Taiidan Imperialist, Delophane Vamaii.

The "/watch=" links are tags for youtube, for those who may enjoy to hear the selected theme for a given situation while reading. I had applied these for the forum variant and hope these are okay. If inappropriate, please let me know and I will have them removed.

As a quick introduction, this fanfiction is roughly taking place approximately some 10 years before HW2's Hiigaran-Vaygr war, although this story takes place at a remote and rather uninteresting location for the Vaygr crusades at and during that time. Neither the lost Imperial Taiidan Mothership and its hordes of surviving fleets nor the Vaygr know of each other.

Finally, I'm sorry for the occasional quirks with dictions as well as the possibility of forgotten forum code tags due to 1:1 copy and swift editing.

Note that future chapters may contain "broken english" dialogues. This is intended.

Enjoy

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Table of Contents

Chapter 01 – Part 1 of x Scroll down, bro.

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**Life on Curse – Act I - Bloodkeii and Honor**

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**Chapter 1 – Sealed Fate**

The surfaces throughout the darkened compartment quietly vibrated as the distant power-grid periodically fused power through the veins of the vessel as well as the present sophisticated devices. The air is cool, and other than the very faint chlorine smell provided by the filters; it was rather odorless… _meaningless_. The compartment itself was rather small, featuring several seemingly tight chambers for any humanoid being to recuperate; and though one may sense fear in such tight compartment, the body within does not even know of its dwelling.

_Calm breathing_...

Groups of colored cables bulge like thick veins beneath the sheets, all leading to various regions the young woman's body. Despite all, it is clear that these are maintaining the slumbering life. As this body may appear to be tangled and to a point even subdued, the being does not sense anything.  
The woman possesses a fair complexion. Her skin was rather pale, as if it had never been touched by the warmth of a sun. The straight yet short chestnut brown hair was captured in a soft cap made of some sort of thin cotton material. A transparent mask covers the lower half of her face; hollow tubes lead into her mouth. Displays on the outside reveal activity in life signs, yet nothing of which one should be concerned of. Although... various readings reveal that her mind is vivid and active despite the outward serenity of the body that had undergone severe surgery.

_Movement_…

Despite closed eyes, there is movement beneath. Vivid, rapid… There is a slight change in the harmony of the rhythms.  
Even so, the outer world does not know what this being is going through. All but one matter is true:

_She is captivated in her own mind… _

*****

_Echoes_... The screaming of people and the sounds of rattling gunfire began to fill her mind. _Terrified voices_... The dirges frighten her. These were not memories of the terrors of the last days but of something she had witnessed many... many years ago...

Everything started with forgotten bruises to her shoulder and her cheek.  
Just outside her tray lies an unusual yet dirty uniform, fully striped in the proud colors of red and yellow. Common sense will easily figure that this belonging hinted that she was once a special individual of the forgotten nation, the Taiidan Empire.

*****

/watch?v=XMppeOBZVLQ

Jesper Kyd - Hitman Blood Money "Secret Invasion"

(A narrative voice speaks)

During the reigning ages of the seemingly immortal Taiidan Emperor Riesstiu IV, two titanic colonial motherships and their vast armadas were dispatched to colonize the distance reach of the galaxy's arm; ensured of uncovering the secrets and treasures under his everlasting shadow. Unfortunately, underestimating the true powers of the so-called _Singularity Core_, the armadas had uncontrollably emerged into various unknown regions of their galaxy, never to find their way back to the Taiidan Homeworld. Every plotted course and hyperjump led them deeper and deeper into uncharted territory.

Regardless of all means of knowledge, technology and common sense; every attempted hyperjump brought the colonial fleet into yet another dreaded and unknown region of space... and all hope vanished the day one of the majestic motherships and thousands of its vessels did not emerge with the rest... The _second mothership_ and its remaining armada could never find the truth behind the shear arbitrariness behind its propulsion technology and the search for the other mothership was logically deemed futile.

The last contact happened to be a small space-faring vessel of wise Bentusi Enclave that revealed uncertain truths that the Taiidan Empire and their Emperor had fallen. Many deemed these as lies and blasphemy... Others became lost of their existence and heritage. Matters worsened as their current location proved to be myriads of light years away from the Galactic Core. The sole Bentusi vessel had no choice but to flee as hostile intentions were provoked upon it; leaving the madness of these lost souls behind.

Over decades of blind hyperjumps, the remaining lost armada now found itself in a very dense nebular expanse. The colonial armada was now truly lost as its last means of stellar cartography and orientation was blinded by endless formations of dense gas, elements and the dust of dead dwarf stars. Hyperjumps proved to be bound within this endless realm of gas. Over this time, the psyches throughout the fleets had become decadent and untrustworthy amongst each other, soon to lead into uncontrollable feuds and disputes between those who were once considered allied and brothers in arms.

The greed for power, longevity serums, drugs and many other materials considered _essential_ for survival slowly became out of hand. The once iron leadership crumbled as the insanity of individuals assassinated key figures. Myriads of fleets within the vast armada is now shattered as various fall into madness, despair or their instincts for survival; as well as the forming new clans and doctrines to ensure their primal instincts of the survival of the fittest. Decadency overwhelmed most of the common people and despite all... another threat soon became a serious matter.

It was then when the colossal mothership was suddenly _infected_ by an unusual bio-mechanical virus. The true origins of this plague, coined by the colonial Taiidan tongue as _the Virulency_ - or the _Encroachment_-, remained unknown but its nature was something that terrified all. The living bio-mechanical mass struck both nearby vessels as well as the living beings within, slowly twisting body and mind to such extent that they would become living slaves; entrapped in a husk of their deformed flesh and tangled microcircuits forged by the corrupted nanites.

Bizarrely, the feuds between the slivered armada continued. Little did these feuding fleets care about the severe plague, allowing it to spread throughout the mothership's realms.

The vast colony vessel since then had become a raging battlefield, covered with bloodshed and endless assaults between people and the bio-mechanical menaces. Madness was everywhere. Only a selected few armies dared to stay to protect the weak and hope for retrieval from those who were still of a common sense... but hopes dwindled with each day...

But where could one flee to? The nebula world beyond known as _Curse_ remains treacherous and deadly...

(The narrative voice fades...)

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**- Beneath a Falling Sky -**

_Many years ago..._

For years, the survivors were able to establish and maintain a secured haven somewhere deep within the majestic Taiidan Mothership. Both civilians and armed forces managed to fortify themselves in an industrial complex not far below the habitat decks. Able to dispatch patrols, search and rescue parties and supply retrieval groups, this specific haven prospered enough for distant fleets to dispatch evacuation operations and further personnel and materials for their survival.

Over the course of these years, refugees and other terrified people learned of this safe-zone hidden somewhere throughout the chaos inside the vast behemoth. There were hundreds of such hidden _havens_ throughout the mothership but the chances of finding others were little to nothing. Whether small hideouts or larger complexes, such havens could maintain survival though these had to be well-kept secrets most of the time.  
Their initial chance of survival was always bleak though. The vast Taiidan Mothership, the _Taiika Aksaii Vay_, was more a less dead weight in space now and its internal realms were out of control. The thousands and thousands of vast cryogenic bays stored within the Mothership were malfunctioning and each day brought hundreds back to consciousness... or worse.

Fate was something that nobody could control.  
Some of the awakened people were able to leave their previously sealed beds while others remained captured; sealed in their shelled alcove, either to deplete the last of air distributed into the previously active shell or to be consumed by the bio-mechanical menace. Even the most ill-fated were _lucky_ as some would either remain _safely_ in their deep cryogenic sleep until somebody would come or until they suffocate in their sealed _coffin_ before the worse would come over them. Yet, there were still millions of colonist people hidden in the myriads of these bays...  
As the mothership was extremely vast, its creators had intentionally spread the batches of cryo-chambers across the entire vessel; ensured that this would raise chances of survival should the vessel ever break apart. However, this thought was now a bane to many as these chambers were often out of reach of saviors.  
With the discovery of failing mainframes and power grids, it was clear that even the self-sustained alcoves were malfunctioning. Faulty signals additionally caused them to remain seal yet seize life support as they were instructed that nobody was inside.

However, it was quite fortunate that it was usually an alcove batch that would suddenly revive groups of slumbering people rather than single ones. But once awakened and freed, the scantly-clothed people would soon find themselves in a world of chaos and madness, soon to learn that they were not _colonizing_ any planet just yet.

Moving barefooted was not easy either as many regions were full of debris and corpses. Even children and adolescents were exposed to horrors nobody understood... and there were even occasions where families would be confronted by the living terrors or even madmen who would slaughter them at the first sight.

Each _day_ was grim. The Motherhship was full of mysteries and terrors... However, whenever the awoken people found initial ways of survival, they soon became aware of the so-called havens – and one specific and rumored one in the region that raised all hope. This specific _haven_ was somewhere deep within the twelfth industrial foundry area of the Mothership.

As more people were retrieved from their cryogenic sleep over the years, the importance of this retreat became greater to such extent that people have decided to give this area a name: **Galis 12**.

**Galis 12** was vast. While its primary function as an industrial foundry continued, the survivors used its utilities for the means of manufacturing whatever was needed for their survival. Salvaged materials also supported their needs. Vulnerable accessible ducts were permanently welded, sealed and secured while other areas were committed into makeshift homes for the thousands refugees and fortified sentry posts. Focused manpower, the sense of survival and the understandings of rule and order allowed everybody to persist in a mad world beyond the thick walls. Over time, further troops from _distant fleets_ were dispatched to further secure what was now assumed as a vital beachhead deep within the titanic colony ship.

Ironically, life somewhat became normal to the mere hundred-thousands throughout this vast zone. Various people currently resided at the open areas. The ceiling was unbelievably high and was domed. Other people walked across the heightened catwalks and passages high above. Heavy vehicles roared as they moved along through the tunnels far below .

An armed soldier noticed a woman explaining the youth of how life was under the _silver sky_ at what appeared to be a makeshift park. A cylindrical object with various pictures of people and messages was not far from them, containing texts such as 'Have you seen this person?'. He looked up and noticed the myriads of plating above...

_A steel sky..._

Surprisingly, the kids were not frightened but vividly listened to the woman's speech. Other children even saluted at him as they noticed his curiousness. The woman greeted the man, thanking him and his service for the protection of all lives.

But the mirror of hope was shattered that day and moment when the peace at the considered _safe haven_ was struck by pure terror. Although this haven had been assaulted and besieged by both man and virulent abominations throughout the years and time and again; this time, nobody... absolutely nobody could stop the worse that was bound to happen.

It all happened all too suddenly.

_He was too late_ – By the time word had spread over the radio, it was far too late. The man had no choice but to run towards the vast hall where thousands of innocent people resided. He had ran across the entire haven to cry for an immediate retreat as the impending doom was about to strike. Nobody expected such terror to strike so suddenly. Thousands of people of the haven were caught by surprise; hundreds soon to be doomed by a terrifying hail of death.

/watch?v=ZkHcrfu3EQM

Kevin Manthei - Jagged Alliance 2 - Battle Theme 02 (Bugs)

All eyes gazed to the domed ceiling as the sound of crushing metal occurred from high above. Hundreds of pieces fell from above, burying unfortunate people under an unforgiving cloud of crushing doom. Following this event, the outer walls were ruptured by an explosion. The shockwave was so sudden and violent that it dazed many amidst its vicinity, and by the time these people came to their senses, they were soon surrounded by the waves of invading abominations.

Cries, clatter and gunfire swept across the open areas. Men, women and children screamed as they desperately tried to find a way through the mess of smoke and blood. Shrieks of unknown nature howled through the vicinity.

Aligning his autocarbine to the area where the adversaries were coming from, the armed soldier fired several rounds upon the hideous foes and rushed to aid a severely wounded man, but by the time he reached the person, it was already too late.  
His senses soon noticed a figure - something was approaching him! Instincts caused him to respond at blinding speeds, but at the very last moment, his common senses stopped him from pulling the trigger. It was a young woman suddenly heading straight towards him through the dense smoke.

He recognized that she happened to be a soldier as well but was unarmed and barely to be considered combat ready judging her sleeveless shirt, the camouflage-patterned pants and boots. But much to her defense, absolutely nobody was ready for such a sudden incursion. Noticing that she was running away from something deadly, he immediately tossed her his sidearm, which she freely caught. Following a skillful roll upon the floor, she then swung her aim into the opposite direction. When the deformed silhouette of the bio-mechanical foe became somewhat visible, they continually fired until it was neutralized. Luckily, this one proved to be vulnerable and mortal.

The young woman sighed in relief and looked up at the man, but was then shocked by the very moment something struck the standing soldier besides her. The cloud of blood sprayed upon her face. Shocked of the sighting, she desperately looked around, only to spot a distant panicking Taiidan soldier spraying rounds from his submachine gun across the area.

The distant soldier frequently unleashed warcries - No, they were fearful cries as more and more figures approached his sides. What frightened the young woman the most was the fact that this man was shooting at everything that was moving... Monstrosities... Men... Women... even chil- Slugs smacked upon her vicinity, causing her to instinctively roll over and drag the severely injured man behind cover. Though exposed to the possibility of another adversary, they were at least safe from the panicking soldier who still sprayed rounds at them and everything else that was moving through the smoky fields.

Gunfire sung a symphony of madness and chaos.

She looked down. The sight of his bleeding body and the severe gunshot wound upon his chest left her speechless. A single moment went by before his hand fell lifelessly to the floor. Despite his flak jacket, it had proven little to no protection versus such a round...

Thick clouds of gray dust matter fell upon her, covering her and her vision mostly with thick shrouds. She wove her hands before her face and coughed deeply, almost choking to what also stung her eyes. Recalling this reaction from her past, she figured that the explosions must have ruptured one of the ore material transport tubes far above. The disorientated woman frequently tried wipe her eyes her wrists. When she was able to see some of her surroundings, she noticed thin tunnels cutting through the smoke - and ducked as more of these zinged through the air. High velocity projectiles smacked into the bit of cover she had, one of them cutting through and luckily missing her by a few inches.

Following this experience, she fretfully slid down as far she could until her back was almost flat upon the floor. She had no clue where to go or what to do for she was pinned down. _They were everywhere_ - The abominations hurled their dirges through the vast area; Their warped and captivated bodies still begging the dreadful desires of death. Various sorts of weapons were fired upon them. Glowing waves of light revealed to be so-called _burst throwers_ that launched shrouds of fiery hell upon the fiends while explosive grenade shells obliterated encroaching groups. Blast waves would soon sweep by, forcing the pinned woman to cover her face with her arm.  
She looked down at the dead soldier once more.

She had no idea who this man was, but to a point, he had saved her life - even for a moment. However, he was dead... killed by friendly fire...  
_... The wild cries and bullet hail had stopped... The frantic soldier was apparently no more..._

Her hand swept the dust off his chest, soon to find a blood-smeared tag with engraved letters she could not read at the moment. Clots of dust and blood did not make it easier to read when her thumb wiped over it several times. The dust itself simply burnt her dry eyes and lungs. She slowly grabbed the small tag and pulled it from its magnetic slot. The frame left a mark in her hand as she tightly grasped it and thought of this man. She did not know what to say for she was not the religious type of person. All her mind could do was to say that he would never be forgotten. She then looked around, hoping she could distinguish the smallest refuge throughout these atrocious surroundings.

There was once a moment she thought this could have been her new _home_. It was a _world_ worth fighting for...

Her senses soon noticed the recognizable sound of static and hisses. It was low, but her sharp mind new exactly what this was. She crawled to the corpse and found the notable earplug fixed to his ear. The young woman took it and soon heeded the voice of a frantic man:  
""A- Attention all units! Attention all units! Th-This is _Galis Command_ to **all units** - Ev-Everybody who can receive this signal!"", the man's garbled voice shouted from the radio of the dead soldier, ""All units – **Retreat**! Retreat to the nearby shipyard! Enemy forces have breached through the defense lines and - and are encroaching fr-from ... **EVERYWHERE**! Retreat! Retreat as once! If we stay, we are doomed! Leave everything behind that could slow you down! Evacuate at ONCE! We are abandoning _Galis 12_ - I repeat, we are abandoning [i]Galis 12[7i]! We have no choice - Flee, before it is too late! I declare this entire operation **terminated**! We must return to our Ten- _Bloody bagura… S-So many of them_! Return at -!""

The young woman heard nothing else beyond that point as she instantly dashed away from cover. Pure fear was pulsing rapidly through her veins. It was unfortunate now that she was guided by her instincts. Even with the streaks of bullets and whatever shards that flew across her path, she simply ran for her life. As she ran, she avoided the areas that were contested by cornered Taiidan forces and vicious foes. Rounds were fired at her - once again, being confused for the monstrosities encroaching on the panicking fireteams. The abominations were many and came in various sizes and forms. However, it was clear that the majority were infected Taiidans consumed by the infectious biomass.

The smell was just as abominable as their appearances of twisted bones, smears of blood and torn tissues; but nothing was more terrifying than the hums and mumbles of their sealed mouths and the wide eyes.  
"_Help me! Hhrhghhglllll!Hhrrrr-Kill me!_" – they kept mumbling as their disfigured bodies kept moving forth, swiping and crushing and being that stood in their way. The twisted monstrosities fired unusual spikes and whipped tentacle-like arms; either puncturing the bodies of victims or killing the unarmored soldiers almost instantly by the first swipe. Soldiers were faster than these monsters, but even the bravest were stunned by the appearance of these disgusting figures.

The fleeing woman witnessed another soldier that fell to the floor when a swipe smacked the side of his thigh, only to then be impaled by the tentacle and then frequently slammed into other floor.

When her movements caught some attention by minor fiends, she fired blind shots from her pistol until it banged no more. The sled of the pistol remained retracted. She cussed, for she had forgotten to grab further ammunition from the killed soldier. It was also unfortunate that these conventional weapons only caused mediocre damages upon these encroaching foes.

"_Delo-fayne_! Over here!", a familiar voice shouted from further away.

She stopped; sliding forward and almost losing her balance - followed by the necessity of coughing her lungs out. The disgusting foes were encroaching on the area, but were focused upon the fireteams that held the line. More dust swept across the area and it was already difficult to recognize anything but muzzle flashes, explosions and motions.

Delophane spotted the familiar man who desperately wove her over. Soldiers cautiously fired beyond her to offer her cover. Keeping low as she desperately rushed across the opening, the young woman was lucky that she was able to cross it practically unnoticed by the nearby fiends. Tailing the small group, she followed them to a group of high metal crates and containers that provided additional cover. Spiked projectiles thudded against the thick surfaces. The man then wove the others to lift the heavy floor plating and the grating beneath it, revealing a dark hole. Cables and other mechanical things covered the surface of what appeared to be a tunnel.

"Quickly, get inside! This is an emergency escape route that should lead us to the lower deck. We should be able to reach the perimeter to the evacuation zone. Other soldiers will be waiting for us there."

She hesitated as she spotted another distant group of people being murdered by the infected. One of the soldiers instantly grabbed her the moment she intended to charge for them. The exclaims of children and other adults terrified her so much that she even became desperate. She kicked the men but she was simply overwhelmed by their strength.

The recognizable man happened to be Lead Overseer _Asulaat Ijeris_ of _Galis 12_ - or what was left of it... For this moment, however, Delophane was absolutely not happy to see this man.

The overseer coughed once more before speaking to her, "W-We cannot save them all... but we must save those who are here with us now - Do not worry. There are other escape hatches for the others. But we cannot stay here any longer! Enter, before we are all doomed! - And I _have my orders_", the man suddenly pulled a pistol and aimed at her chest, "We serve the shadow of the emperor - Whether one shall trust the lies of his fate or not - He would never accept indulgence - Neither would I.  
Soldier or not, you are important to the survival of our people and nation as everybody else. However - if you intend to stay, I will not tolerate it. You could stay but I will not have you be infected by the _encroaching fiends_ only for you to kill others as well. I might as well could shoot you now before such would happen..."

More screams and cries for mercy sounded from afar. She looked beyond her shoulder as the other men still had their arms wrapped upon her limbs. The howls of the virulent fiends shrieked across the fields as the crossfire of shards and tracers zinged through the smokes. Mixed groups of armed people spread out and concentrated their fire upon the intruders, but there was no doubt that this was already a losing battle. Any commander with the sense of humanity would retreat.

Delophane returned her view ahead and then looked down when she felt something. The muzzle poked against her chest. The young woman grasped her senses, slowly nodded, revealing her surrendering and dropped down into the dark tunnel...

After a very long rush through the tight maintenance tunnels and tubes, the large group of civilians and military personnel found the exit that lead to a corridor further below _Galis 12_. Faint tremors went through the floor. A constant draft slithered past her exposed arms. This area was definitively chilling. Despite fleeing the terrors from above, this was not over just yet...

As the young woman slid down a dark slope, she finally found the end of the tunnel. Climbing out with the others, she immediately noticed the distant cracks of gunfire and shouts. She cursed inwardly as it was now clear that the so-called _Virulency_ was already encroaching upon this crucial deck.

"_Bagura_!", Delophane cursed, "Those monsters are already intruding this area as well?"

"_J... Jotoheii_ Vamaii, is that you?!", a man's voice called the female private from further away.  
"_Gunsoheii_ Takudo - - ?! Thank goodness... ", she replied, relieved to see the sergeant and several others of his unit.

A small group of well armored men and women rushed over to Delophane. All of them wore dark blue medium armor, noticeable by the spherical yet bulky shoulder, chest and leg protectors as well as specific loadouts of marine kits. Before any further response, she knocked her heels together after a gentle stomp, straightened her back, lifted her head and swung her forehand horizontally across her stomach and then saluted.

_Always the soldier_, Takudo thought, and returned the gesture with a brief salute. The young man did not seem to have much left for the _ol' Taiidan pride_.

Takudo, Gunsoheii-Sergeant of Taiidan Empire...  
The young non-commissioned-officer was one of many young bloods serving the empire's pride. Alike the young Taiidan woman, he and many others had attained training at the imperial academy as junior NCOs prior to the mothership's lost journey through the galaxy. However, just as Delophane, he awoke in the nightmarish reality full of terrors and atrocities... and this day was no different.  
As usual for serving males throughout the fleet, his dark brown hair was cut extremely short. The suit covered most of his head; his face though currently free of the protective mask. The young man always had a strict gaze in his face that was iconic. While he was a formidable soldier serving the _41st Rifles Detachment_, only a few could sense his dwindling belief in the higher-ups and what remained of the spirit of the Taiidan Empire. It has happened time and again where this young soldier considered subtly denying orders for the sake of the soldiers under his command.

The moment of relief vanished when the gunfire became slightly louder. Obviously, the men beyond were unable to hold the line. There was still some time though, but the first few could be seen as they retreated with casualties. He looked back at the Taiidan woman who was slightly exhausted. She continued her stare at the people far down the specific corridor.

"Wh-Where's your unit, soldier? - And where's your gear?!", Takudo wondered as he noticed her unusual appearance in such a situation.

One of the soldiers kindly handed her a canister of water that promptly used to wet her throat as well as wiped some of the smudgy dirt from her face. She needed some time before she was able to answer. Dirty pearls of water slipped from the side of her face.

"I... I was surprised by the sudden attack as much as everyb-W-Wait - They're not here? None from my unit?", she looked around and beyond their shoulders but discovered no other familiar soldiers.

"None of 32nd rifles detachment – None, but you..."

The deeply concerned woman turned around and gazed upon the entrance of the tunnel that was now being welded by others, "If they are not here - - Oh no... They must still be up there!", she said and looked at the ceiling of the corridor, "I must go back up there! I need a kit!"

"You are going nowhere. There is nothing we can do, Jotoheii Vamaii. Our command as well as the Lead Overseer already declared _Galis 12_ as a fallen haven. It is now one of the many that had fallen before. People have been ordered to save what they could and bear the fact that it is futile to defend the haven any further. It is being overrun even as we speak. We are to retreat and rescue whomever we can on the way without delay. There is no point in holding the line other than buying time for the final retreat. We must face that fact."

He shook his head. The other soldiers were just as grim and concerned.

Delophane repeatedly shook her head, replying in a distressed, "We cannot just leave them behind, Takudo! There thousands of innocent people up there! We are soldiers - Here to rescue and protect those people - We can't just let them die! I must -"

"We do not have time for this. We are marines... not police officers. Since I possess the superior rank, you are to support my fireteams from here on", the platoon staff sergeant ordered to the senior private as he straightened his stance, "As the current squad leader of this group, I hereby integrate you into the squad unit of the _41st rifles detachment_ until further notice. And as things seem, we'll need every hand we can get."

The man noticed a very brief reaction from the young woman that almost went unnoticed. She wanted to respond, if not argue about the desperate matter - but the nanosecond of anger vanished the moment he spotted the sense of loyalty and duty. Delophane's psyche reminded her that she was only a _Jotoheii of the Taiid_ military, a lowly private.

"... Then I am... _was_ the last of my... unit", she quietly said, "The _32nd's_ is done with - th-they are all... dead".

"It is not dead as long as you are alive, Vamaii", a female soldier besides Takudo added, "And I have a good feeling that other riflemen of your detachment will survive. The _32nd_ is an honorable detachment that had always been watching out for the _41st_, Vamaii. You are a soldier. A good one. It is time that we pay back the favor by taking care of you. We need you as well as you need us. And I am certain that we will all survive if we stay together as a unit. So much is happening in such short time - Something is simply not right here. We are not sure what actually happened? How could such an invasion occur so suddenly without any warning by patrols? The _Virulency_ cannot just have encroached on _Galis 12_ so unnoticed. We were told that all was calm and clear until..."

The young woman stretched her back and tried to wipe the dried blood and dust from her face; crumbs fell to the floor. Delophane gazed at the female soldier with the short straight black hair before answering, "I-I... I don't know. I was recuperating from a recent patrol myself. I must have been resting for some two... or three hours. Prior to our return, we were ambushed during that patrol and we suffered casualties. We survived and retreated but there was no sign of such an incursion- or anything so – so … BIG. I-I woke up, bumped my head upon the tight compartment of my bunk and just left the room. It was thoughtless of me to just walk out unarmed but I was simply disorientated. The tremor was quite powerful and felt like as if something exploded.  
It was then when I spotted a dog-like creature that had just mutilated a civilian. When it spotted me, it charged me and I ran away. I had... serious doubts that closing that _door_ would have done much to stop it. It was against regulations to have heavy weapons at the habitat area and my service pistol was stored within the desk. That _thing_ chased me for a while until it found an easier unsuspecting victim... A-And then... I - I was somewhere across the wide promenade area. That was when explosions occurred and the incursion began. The sky simply fell upon us..."

The roars echoing through the corridors became louder. The distracting noise surely made even the toughest marine unease. A large number of people were rushed to leave the corridor. Thousands of steps clattered upon the plated floor. A dirty drop of blood, sweat and dust fell from Delophane's chin.

"Whatever may happen - We must stick together from here on. Although we are of different detachments, we must stick together", Takudo continued, "And you are better off coming with us. Listen. We are going to be evacuated, Vamaii. We're leaving this dreaded coffin - Once and for all... Or, at least until high command sends us on another campaign... Nonetheless, we are returning to our _Tenreii_... The 143rd Fleet, _Tenreii Len'Tiirva Taiid_."

Her eyes widened the moment she heard the familiar names, "To – To the _fleet_? Y-You mean we are going to leave the Mothership? I never thought that would ever happen any time so soon - or... ever! I was expecting us to retreat to the vessels to have us relocate to a different region of the Mothership to reinforce", she paused; instantly recalling the memory of a specific person.

It had been at least a year, or perhaps even two, ever since she left her _Tenreii_.  
Like many, the Tenreii fleet had formed after the collapse of the unified armada. As of now, there were hundreds, if not mere thousand of different fleets throughout the seemingly endless nebular realm known as _Curse_. All of these were now considered renegade and independent splinter groups acting on self-proclaimed agendas... or worse.  
Specically, Delophane's _fleet_ was one of the few operating still under the lost empire's will and had dispatched several marine detachments to support _Galis 12_ as well as the evacuation efforts of refugees. As it now had seemed, it had appeared that she would be returning not only to that fleet but to a specific person she never really had the time to talk to. In fact, she never was able to actually _talk to that specific person_ for years of her life.

"This is no joke", the man continued, "According to rumors, the _fleet_ always insisted to evacuate the entire _Galis 12_ entourage ages ago but found that the bridgehead was holding the lines well and stable enough to retrieve more people and materials. Things were going well, if not better, each day. And our Tenreii did prosper as well as provide refuge to those willing to support the cause. Well I do not need to tell you that. We've all been part of this operation - but in short, the full extraction was a matter that was always being postponed. Tenreii High Command even insisted to dispatch another detachment along with transports featuring heavier units. Things were working out. The _fleet_ was receiving a steady flow of civilians who are willing to support.

Somewhere, high command was more concerned about hostile _Tenreiis_ intending sabotage or even an all-out assault upon the fortified haven... Men were ready for such but nobody expected **such** a powerful incursion of the _Virulency_... As for now, _fleet command_ did not hesitate and instantly initiated all plans regarding full retreat. Manpower is crucial for survival, after all.  
There are too many lives at stake if we were to simply hold the grounds. Nonetheless, there were already evacuation plans in place for emergency - Let alone the fact that precious materials and goods had always been stored at the cargo ships. These evac plans are actually the reason why you are standing here in one piece, luckily. Whatever may be: We are to get to any jump capable vessel and relocate to the emergency coordinates. And to be honest, I have no intention of staying here any longer than necessary. Like many of us, you deserve this leave."

"I'm guessing it'll be another _short_ flight... right?", another private of Takudo's unit grumbled sarcastically as he fiddled with his heavy rifle, "*Scoffs* Not looking forward to the Tenreii, to be honest."  
"You'd rather be here, on the verge of getting killed every day?", the other female soldier asked.

The other private frowned.

Life in a Tenreii fleet was not as great as one would assume. Although away from the terrors happening throughout the Taiidan Mothership, one's daily matter could easily end up in boredom and lack of freedom, especially on smaller vessel. On the other hand, the female soldier quietly recalled the days of being on a cruiser, with little chance of recreational means. The Taiidan Mothership actually had a lot more freedom; most certainly thanks to the civilians and the established havens. Yet, the Tenreii fleet was always vigilant as hundreds of other Tenreiis were always up to something. Being in a fleet deep inside the realm of _Curse_ was nothing somebody actually looked forward to as one could likely die there to an assaulting fleet.  
"Well… I suppose we'll be able to hang with a few civilians during our recreational times. Should be… fun…", she added.  
"Yeah… Yeah. Suppose so. Just have to survive this bloody mess first *sigh*."

"Enough, you two", Takudo mentioned with a firm voice, "We're soldiers. This is our duty."  
Delophane looked above. Her eyes stared upon the ceiling, thinking of the lost _haven_, "So then that's it? We're just going to... leave? But all those people..."  
"Havens come and go, Delophane. Like day and night back at our Homeworld - Well, that's what they say, I guess - I've never seen that to be honest... Anyhow. Havens… Some come, some go... It would have happened sooner or later. We have already rescued thousands of lives. Now it is our moment to retreat and during that process we will serve. And orders are orders and -"

_I... have never seen the day or the night on Hiigara..._

Another group approached them, "- And we will obey the orders, even within the shadow of our emperor", an unfamiliar yet firm voice clearly pronounced, "And you will obey them, as well as my orders."

Takudo and the others turned around and spotted the small group led by a notably ranked officer. The group immediately saluted to the Imperial Taiidan Major.

The Imperial Major of their _Tenreii Taiidi_ was a tall man ,who respectively wore the authentic _Noroketh_ military exo-suit that reflected elegance, ultimate pride and honor to his _Tenreii_ and the distant _Emperor_. The thick gray shoulder pieces extended horizontally and was engraved with the symbols of the _Tenreii_'s pride. The proud colors of red and yellow stripes crossed the armored bicep and thigh protectors. An epaulette upon his left shoulder protector was connected with a golden chain that went from that side across his chest to the right side of his hip. His chest armor was engraved with the symbol of their _Tenreii Taiid_ and honorable deeds.

It was common to see officers in such exo-suits nowadays. Every Tenreii of the shattered Taiidan armada endured researches in every field of technology, including the survivability of their units. Considering this specific piece of armor, the _Noroketh_ series was a notable improvement of the conventional ones.

The Noroketh armor was also a standard for any officer serving upon dangerous missions beyond the _fleet_. The nebular _Curse_ was a world full of treachery... and secrets. Despite the needs for survival, there was no doubt that every Tenreii spread all about _Curse_ were infusing their resources into the development of anything that could assure their stay ahead of the packs. The _Noroketh_ was known also for its resilience against heavy kinetics and biological substances as well as the first level against nuclear radiation. In full gear with supportive accessories, it could also sustain life within hazardous environments, including space. However, regardless of all these features, it also had flaws and weaknesses. As usual for every armor series throughout the Tenreiis, the constant mean for pride and elegance always had its price.

Both a warrior and swordsman, the Tenreii Major was one of the greatest men in the front lines of the _Fleet_. Marks and chipped holes revealed that he had experienced battles. Aside to his sophisticated weaponry, he also carried his honorable short sword; an antique weapon of which that was sacred throughout the Taiidan military society and mostly given to such commissioned military ranks. To possess such antique was beyond the sense of simple elegance and decorations...

Delophane frowned as she knew she would never even reach the basic of all military commissioned ranks. Connections also played a big role despite a soldier's unbelievable success in the line of duty. Aside to being a mere suggestion, one had to prove that he or she could serve by the upmost sacrifices to the Tenreii and the _Shadow_ of the Taiidan Emperor.

His face revealed a gaze of ultimate determination. The backside of his head was covered by plates of armor and the neck guard covered his throat and mouth almost entirely. There was no doubt that he was a superior field commander whose command and intentions should never be questioned. His subordinate marines were armored and just as determined as well.

"I will be taking command of your unit, _Gunsoheii_, as I have command of all other detachments currently deployed in this region. We will serve in the emperor's shadow. There will be no indulgence. You all will serve the my command well."

The sergeant frowned. Takudo did not seem much pleased of the fact that this man took over what he thought to be his first real command of a squad. The Major moved on shortly to discuss further matters with others.

"_Czass_, _Tenreii Shosa_", Sergeant Takudo confirmed and briefly bowed his head, "The emperor's shadow."

The other soldier followed the honoring gesture. The Major nodded and moved away.

"We shall relocate to the shipyard nearby. The corridor beyond just beyond this sector is mined with explosives and we have prepared combat engineers to seal this passage. This will force the encroaching beasts to take a route where we will be expecting them. Do not tally too long here. I will not accept any delays. _Galis 12_ has fallen and there is no doubt that the _Virulency_ will surge this sector. We will make sure the casualties are maintained at acceptable levels. I will not accept any further losses. And make sure none of these fools, these _civilians_, see any of the casualties. Our Tenreii does not need any further talks about such. Hold this line until the combat engineers from the other area have finished conducting their duties. They will prime the charges then..."

When the tall man and his subordinates left them behind, the group lifted their heads.

*Muttering* Bloody moron, the female marine grumbled, As if the civilians were responsible for all of this.  
I don't like the looks of that man, Takudo..., another one of Takudo's marines noted, There is something about him...  
Keep your mind to yourself, Madeakii. Do you want to be executed on sight for having a foul mouth? Why don't you speak a little louder? I'm sure the Imperial Major would love to hear about that... Now. Listen, all of you. We are not through here just yet, after all. Those monsters have already engaged the outer lines and they will be bashing through the hangar area soon enough. We are going to do our orders and maintain a steady fortification stance further away from this area as I have no clue how heavy the initial blast wave will be.  
Okay… So I don't really trust the Major either, but you did not hear that from me. If he is not around, we will do things our way. I want to keep casualties at a reasonable level too - namely, one - and not his. We not expendable. Under no circumstance shall anybody be wandering off down those halls. If I understood our Major well, that hall could explode any second without any sign of warning... Whatever happens, we must stick together no matter what. Alright?

A short sound of clatter occurred as the other marines knocked their covered fists against their shoulder frame. However, all but one nodded.

Alright?, he repeated.

Delophane nodded quietly.

Don't worry. We will all make it out of here...

Unfortunately, Takudo's words were soon forgotten...

As the group of marines retreated to the outer segment of the hangar bay, they were shocked to discover series of devastating events. Despite the plans of the Tenreii-Major, the encroaching foes were already surging other segments of the vast hangar bay. Passages with windows frequently flashed and flickered as distant groups fired upon the bestial foes.

Far below, the group spotted thousands and thousands of panicking hordes rushing into various vessels and corvettes. Shots and tracers zipped across the humongous region as another source of intruders was detected. Delophane looked across the region. There were certainly enough frigates and destroyers to rescue the people. All they needed was time. She shrieked lightly the moment a random round smacked against the transparent shell of tubular corridor.

Before Delophane caught her breath, the young woman then heard a rush of people... and it was yet another sign of something terrible coming in.

"A-Adversaries!", somebody from the rushing group of armed men and women cried.

"D- Emperor's spit, there are still people coming from the mined corridors?!", a marine barked.  
Watch that mouth, soldier, the Sergeant noted.

As the small wave of civilians rushed by, one of them stopped, almost coughing his lungs out, "D-Don't shoot! We're not infected - but there are more of those things heading this way!"

The people wore mostly raggedly clothing and were quite disorientated and exhausted. Some were even barefoot, with cuts and abrasions upon their dirty skin. It was likely that these people were part of a recently liberated alcove group that found themselves right in the thick of trouble. The Taiidan sergeant sighed, and then wove them over.

"Smart of leading them this way... But I'm guessing you have no idea what's going down here... We have no time for this. Get over here into our cover! Hurry!", one of the marines barked.

Another group of dirty civilians rushed around the corner, screaming and stumbling over each other as they desperately tried to take the turn around the corner. When the last ones managed to get to their feet and move on, the armed people then heard the slithering and hissing sounds of various fiends approaching.

_There was no time to lose..._  
They needed to give the civilians some time for retreat before sealing this passage. Yet, every single marine was nervous as they worried about the charges. With all these people still coming, it would be a bloody tragedy if -

"Everybody!", Takudo shouted, "Attain cover and standby! Make sure you have a clear passage for retreat when the civilians have made it to the scaffolding! Do not blind fire as you retreat - and no fire and retreat! I want you to **run**. And for the Emperor's sake: Rear lines first - The front line will retreat as last! I do not want to see a single marine getting sliced to pieces by friendly fire - and careful, we're using explosive rounds here, men. Once you're on the run, there's no turning back until you reach a viable cover position!"

Agreeing to his tactical orders, the mixed group of armed personnel and soldiers spread across the wide corridor. Takudo's unit also split upon the groups to ensure that they would maintain a sense of order.

"Delophane!", one of Takudo's privates called as he rushed over to her, "Here!"

"What is it?", she asked.

The aside to the _Sorboro_ medium armor the marine wore, he also carried a large utility backpack and another notable and identical heavy rifle slung his back. It was not just any rifle but a specific _rifle cannon_. The armored marine kneel down and placed the frame of his similar rifle upon the protective crate. Using its special accessories, he fixed the biped and other functions which gave the rifle a steady and flexible aim upon a specific coned arc. He shoved a few nearby armed men away as he noted them that the blast of this rifle would be bad for their ears.

"Take it! It is a spare rifle. We lost one of our men earlier this day. Take it and the ammo pouches from my backpack. Take as much ammunition as you can carry. You are going to need it. I'm sorry I don't have anything for your shoulder but just be careful. Do not waste any time!"

Delophane hesitated, "You cannot be serious. Just in case you haven't noticed..."

Unlike the armored marine with special shoulder protectors and the bubble-shaped frames, Delophane wore nothing more than sleeveless 'tanktop' shirt, military pants and boots.

"We don't have any reserve shoulder pieces. No time for detaching this stuff either. Private Kadonn!", the marine next to her shouted and gestured him to toss him something over.

Kadonn used his left hand to pull the desired object that was on top of his utility back and slid it across the plated floor. The marine grabbed it what was slid over and handed it over to Delophane. Unfortunately for her, it was _just_ a standard sleeveless flak-jacket that would not even offer the slightest protection for her shoulder - certainly a Z-class piece of protection; lousy at best though protective against shrapnel.

"Thanks... Kadonn…", she noted in a disgruntled tone and frowned, as this thing would not protect her shoulder at all from the recoil. Even if she were to hold it tightly, the shock would only be more painful.

_Better than nothing..._

However, there was no time to lose. As everybody maintained their aim, the young woman snapped the backpack open and pulled several utility pouches - along with one that slipped out of her hand. She petrified as it fell to the floor...

***Egad***, -

She then heard the voice of the kneeling marine, "Delophane - Whatever you are doing, I hope you know how fragile those rounds are...", the kneeling man said as a sweat pearl ran down the side of his face and exhaled deeply.

Lucky for her, the round did not go off. Although these rounds were solid charges, one had to be careful with it as these were not entirely as secure as a standard bullet round. Rushed productions for explosive ammunitions were never that safe.  
She grabbed the pouch and strapped upon her leg and then applied others to her belt. Pulling out another spare utility belt from his backpack, she placed upon her shoulders as a sash, allowing her to apply another two pouches upon her back. Delophane snapped the second belt upon her own, it was now fixed.

Lastly, Delophane pulled the spare rifle from the side of his backpack.

The _rifle_ itself happened to be a very special piece of weaponry. The term _rifle_ was truly misleading as this weapon did not possess rifling; Its interior barrel was smoothbore and with a diameter roughly thicker than the average thumb. Looking upon the rifle right side, she spotted the fixed magazine container... Empty and ready to be fed.

Delophane shortly gazed upon a magazine and spotted the row of red shells marked with a red ring: These were no other than the devastating 25x102mm heavy tungsten shell; as well as the red and black striped armor-piercing sabot variant. While seemingly _cute_ regarding the size of the round, it easily wrecked havoc upon armored targets as well as the diversities of the bio-mechanical menaces. Such devastating round can only be found in such brute-force weaponry like the _cannon-rifle_ she held in her hand: The _Shokodai_.

The high command of her _Tenreii fleet_ issued its development and applied this to various seasoned marine detachments to counter the overwhelming fiends. Research revealed that the fiends were highly resilient and required a galore of hits from standard rifles until they would be neutralized.  
The developed _Shokodai_ cannon-rifle however offered the high command first successes and neutralizing a considerable amount of foes. Other variants of the round such as the teal-ringed _concussive shock_ to take on the heavily armored soldiers of possible hostile Tenreiis or even protesting civilians. And it had been used time and again against revolting people.

However, little did high command care about the soldier who wielded this _man-held artillery_. Not only was it a heavy weapon system for a single soldier, let alone for a woman of her frame; its recoil was just as devastating as the _mess_ it could make. The weapon itself was somewhat bulky and it was nowhere near what one would call an elegant rifle. Furthermore, it was unbalanced regarding its weight distribution. Luckily, it also came with a shoulder belt and an integrated laser pointer that allowed precise single-firing from the hip.  
Aside to the many complaints of from lowly riflemen, the semi-automatic mechanics featuring the typically reverse-slide of the upper frames made it dangerous for those who did not wear thick gloves - needless to say what painful experience one would have for not keeping one's hands on the designated support grip just under the edged barrel. Due to the law of brute physics and the disadvantages of _mindlessy-hasted research_, every discharged round not only forced the upper frames to slide back, the recoil was extraordinarily forceful.

Soldiers using such weaponry were trained for several special tactics as well as two procedures that were commonly applied; either a single aimed shot or barrage, which was nothing other than pulling the trigger as fast and as often until the magazine of seven rounds were depleted. Using the semi-automatic function in a rapid manner, one could unleash a hail of death while maintain a considerable cone of fire upon a target. One was also not entirely exposed to the need of reloading the entire emptied magazine as one could insert single rounds and arm it the moment the chamber was loaded.

However, such barrage required not only strength to withstand the blowback, Even when fired by the hip, the recoil could easily injure its user... much to the distress of a young woman like Delophane, but being a marine of the fleet's detachment, there was no space for disobedience. Aside to strength, the user also had to maintain a decent firing position. The weapon system offered biped legs as well as other small gadgets to ensure accuracy. However, if firing from a standing position, one had to achieve the appropriate pose to catch the recoil without falling from ones' feet.

Like various weaponry of various independent Tenreiis, the _Shokodaii_ cannon-rifle was an exclusive development to Delophane's Tenreii. While hostile Tenreiis could loot these, reverse engineering is most of the time impossible without the schematics as well as the wise minds that developed them. Another key reason why key civilian figures are often kidnapped or at times shot when secrets must be kept _secret_. Regarding this weapon, it was a high tier piece of equipment and likely expensive in its production.

The young woman envied the others who had the appropriate armor...

One disadvantage the Taiidan woman had to face was the fact that she did not wear the appropriate armor like the rest of the seasoned marines around her. Due to the sudden attack upon _Galis 12_, she had no choice but to flee without her equipment; the entire gear that was now slumbering in her _makeshift quarters_ high above at _Galis 12_.

The _medium_ armor was resistant and offered not only some mobility, it also protected its bearer from vicious blows. It was also well padded to withstand the otherwise painful recoil... but judging this situation, Delophane was going to have to ignore pain - _big time_.

The _Sorboro_ personal armor series, unlike the _Noroketh_ series, was a standard among various Tenreiis and thus was not unique. Aside to the surplus found in retrieved crates, its technical production was not as costly as the hundreds of other series above and beyond the _S-class_ qualities. The _Sorboro_ class was well known for its dark blue _bubble_ design regarding its round and somewhat bulky shoulder, chest and knee protectors.

Ironically, the armor was not made of heavy components but of plastics capable of withstanding blows from small arms as well as concussive blows. Thanks to the internal padding, many soldiers are thankful for this feature as it offered decent protection against the painful recoil of their _Shokodai_ cannon-rifles. The series was also lightweight and offered much mobility despite its _medium_ classification.

However, this armor made its bearer more of a larger target due to its bulkier frame and it was common to dub their wearers _blue bombers_, _rockmen_ or simply _chubbies_. While the armor can sustain several hits from small arms, its protective polymer-gel structure is easily damaged; making it harder to expand with each hit and thus can no longer provide protection on that body region. As another hit on that area could penetrate it, it commonly forces its bearer to remove it as its dented form would press deeply into the concussive wound. Also, the joint sections were well known for being exposed and known as weak spots; which was common for various _S-Class_ armor suits.

Surprisingly, _S-class_ armor suits are practically heat and acid retardant and, when fully sealed, water-proof. However, such suits commonly can only bear a small emergency cartridge of a CO2 gas converter as well as an internal wrist injector to infuse oxygen-enriching substances into the blood stream to lengthen the amount of time before suffocating. Without an oxygen mask, one still had to fight against the natural urge of breathing.

The slithering voices and the irregular steps of deformed figures were approaching the end of the corridor. The mumbling of crying and agonized people made the others around Delophane hush. Even though the encroaching foes had not reached the end of the passage yet, the vicious stench of decaying flesh and other disgusting fluids even caused some of the nervous men and women to vomit. Delophane did not like the sight of this. They heard hisses coming. Even she became so nervous that she could feel the pulse bouncing her aim. She lowered the muzzle so that it could rest upon the edge of the protective crate.

A moment of silence swept across the region the moment they spotted the first figures reaching the end of the passage. Many of the abominations were humanoid... to a certain point. Some of their limbs were dismembered. Others were coated by thick red and greenish biomass and unusual forms of circuits. The irregular shapes and structures of biological tissue was utmost disturbing for many people who ironically did not pull the trigger prematurely. Several of the hideous fiends had tubes extruding from their torsos and the bases of their necks; all leading to something else that was being dragged along. Others contained a small series of coated cords that dragged upon the floor and soon after began to levitate as it sensed the presences of various people.

"So I get to command a squad after all...", when Takudo assumed that the majority of the hostile group was at hand, he took a deep breath and then blared, "**FIRE!**"

*****

_Darkness... Voices... Pain..._

Delophane came back to her senses. Her head was throbbing. Her vision spun and she felt nausea. The Taiidan woman felt disorientated and could not quite capture the reason why she was being partially carried by one of the marines. Vertigo confused her senses and it took much time until her vision became comprehensible. She was running, or at least attempting such, while being supported by the man who was shouting something. Something heavy was pulling her shoulder down. When she looked to the floor, she figured she was dragging the muzzle of the _Shokodai_ rifle upon the floor. Another marine lifted her weapon and helped the other marine carry her over.

"W-What happened?"  
"You knocked yourself out when you pulled the trigger - That's what happened!", the first marine barked at her, "You were trained at using such a rifle, woman - You forgot to plant the biped to secure your recoil!"

Delophane rubbed her bruised forehead but when she looked around, the young Taiidan noticed that they were no longer in the barricaded corridor, "Wh-Where are we?"  
"We, uh, we obliterated the first reds, but another wave of those blasted monsters was on the way. We gave the civilians enough time to retreat so we sealed the passage. Damn, you're heavy- You missed the blast, too. I almost forgot those damn combat engineers mined that place. At least we had time to retreat before it actually blew...  
Right now, we relocated to another deck below the main scaffold. Other units are engaging guerrilla tactics to lure the reds to designated bottlenecks. We also sealed the airlocks so those monsters cannot follow the civilians into the opening of the scaffold. Who knows where they will break through next, but we have stopped them for now. The Tenreii Major has ordered us to relocate to this position with several other units. I suppose we will be evacu - Wh-What's that?"

A series of alarms went off. The buzz echoed deeply through the vast hangar bay that was full of frigates, destroyers, corvettes and frantic people. Many of the vessels still had their access bays deployed.

Delophane and the rest were still at a secured location. The buzzes of the alarms blared loudly and threateningly. She stood up upon her weak legs to get a sight of what was going on. She spotted hundreds of distant spinning signal lights glowing first orange, and then red. She looked down below and spotted the thousands of people stopping for the moment, as they appeared to wonder what was going. There were still a plethora of skirmishes and incursions going throughout the area...

Suddenly, a persisting tremor began. It was faint at first but grew in intensity. Something terrifying was about to happen. Delophane heeded an entire ensemble of cries and panic. The masses of people tried to rush into the vessel. Even from this distance, one could see how the people were trampling upon each other. When she gazed across the entire region to the other side, she spotted the source of their fear.

The colossal gateway ports slowly began to open... They opened by a barely sensible pace, but nothing was more terrifying than the sudden grasp of vacuum beginning to tear the mass of air through the initial rift. The whistle of zipping air soon evolved a persisting blare of tearing winds. As the gateway slowly grew wider, Delophane immediately slammed her fist against the transparent shell that protected them from the environment beyond.

"St-Stop this! The people -!", she cried.

The hordes of panicking people became chaotic. Not only did everybody lose their minds, the mass panic caused everybody to spread into all direction, stumbling and stepping over those who lost their balance. Many ran blindly into various directions - foolishly, as some were actually close to the entry port of the vessels - but even so, Delophane soon witnessed people were pushed or even shot at in order to close the entries to the vessels. Several access bays were slowly extracted, regardless if people were still stuck or not. She dared not to look at the ones that caught people between, only to crush them into halves. Gunfire revealed that the soldiers received the only order to ensure the sake of all other survivors…

The floor trembled harder and harder. A massive persisting roar occurred as air was violently being ripped into the decompressed realm of the Mothership. Soon, Delophane began to see how the people at the farthest edge were being swept out into the air. Within seconds, the artificial gravity slowly began to seize its service. More and more objects were being violently dragged and thrown towards the distant opening. Hundreds of people were struck by others; regardless of man, loose objects or even the infected foes - none stood a chance against the ultimate forces of decompression. Unsecured crates bashed their ways through the masses of people.

One of the massive vessel soon began to move... others followed. As the myriads of suffocating lives and hurling objects levitated and were sucked outwards, the first vessels engaged their maneuvering thrusters; blasting other helpless people and objects away. Another quake went through the vicinity as one of the frigates collided with a bypassing vessel. One vessel clashed into the main scaffold that had not been retracted, causing further quakes to transmit through the region.

Delophane braced herself but remained terrified as the screams of people slowly began to fade. As the entire air was ripped out of the vast bay, the realm beyond the protective shell silenced. Further rumbles occurred but this no longer mattered. The young woman slid to her knees while witnessing the slow countless deaths of thousands of people. The first evacuation vessels made their way to the open port, pushing whatsoever away that was now meaningless flesh. Other vessels caused further quakes as its docking clams were still locked. Some opened lastly; others were automatically detached by entire clam units as a last failsafe before ripping the deck appart. As the moments went by, the next vessels made their way into the spacious junctions of the Mothership, soon to follow the passage to outer space.

"_Deka-rucha..._", one of the marines said with a shocked voice, "All those people... What are we doing this for... Just letting them to die like this? Madness..."

Many of the marines and the very few armed civilians were petrified by the thousands of corpses or such soon-to-be.

"I have seen this coming... This was all _necessary_. More than ten thousands will still have survived - and there are still millions hidden within the Mothership. It cannot save all. But I will not waste precious time with sorrows. We are not through yet, my brethren", the Tenreii Major noted from behind, "We have one more mission to fulfill."

There was a sudden reaction that went unnoticed by the Tenreii Major. As the small crowd of men of women stood in front the superior figure, Delophane was held back and urgently told to stand down. Takudo did his best to keep the smaller woman quiet as she fought to say a word. He felt a tight clutch upon his hand, but unfortunately for the young woman, she simply could not bite through the thick glove of his armor. He knew exactly what she needed to say, even if there was no true proof that the Tenreii Major was fully responsible for all these deaths despite the confession that he knowingly let the people go into their doom.

"Brethren. It is this day we put an end to the reign of madness. It will be our duty to change the course of our fates! There is something that has been responsible for all our troubles over the past decades. And ever since _its failures_, our entire blood and kin have been stalled and harassed by its everlasting malfunctioning. It is an illogical function that we must neutralize once and for all... A persona that has been responsible for all our failures and to our _cursed_ doom - I dare say ever since that day we departed from our Taiidan Homeworld..."

Finally, the fiery young woman began to calm down, much to the luck of Takudo, whose hand was about to slip from her mouth. She finally calmed down. Delophane wiped the saliva from the edge of her mouth. Gunfire and blazes still occurred in the distance. The man in the elegant _Noroketh_ exosuit straightened his stance. His face was covered by the protective mask and the sloped helmet. Delophane slid to floor and clutched her sore right shoulder.

"There is something about _Galis 12_ that you should know of, brethren."

She lifted her head but did not care much.

"Many of you will recall explosions. Prior - or perhaps even during the _virulent_ incursion upon _Galis 12_. You must know that the _Virulency_, while an intelligent and cunning abomination, was somehow lured to the weak points of that haven. Yes. You have heard right. The overseer and his staff revealed blueprints of the haven and showed that these sealed ducts were still weak spots... Furthermore, there was a recorded message of a patrol that had discovered devices placed at these spots..."

Delophane's eyes widened.

"Brethren, we must be certain that there was an atrocious scheme plotted upon _Galis 12_ and the fact that saboteurs have brought the _Virulency_ into the very heart of the haven. There is no doubt. The patrol was blasted into bits... And there were slaughtered fireteams of unknown Tenreii allegiance that were reported in the abandoned transport tunnels just prior to the onslaught. It was also then when the scout patrol hurried back to the haven to report... but it was too late."

Takudo and other marines shook their heads. While it was hard to believe anything without true evidence, the fact that explosives were set at key locations was simply too obvious. All was part of a sabotage and the fact that unknown fireteams actually led the masses of infectious foes to the areas - and there was no doubt that they were sacrificed... Even now, the hostile Tenreiis would cause slaughter to gain the upper hand.

The Tenreii Major spoke clearly, yet subtly by precisely chosen words, "We must look forward. The elders and the scientists of the _fleet_ have discovered that the _Virulency_ is dying. It will most likely seize existence within a matter of six, perhaps five, years - Yet... We must act before the _illogical persona_ becomes the end of us all beforehand. There are still millions of people throughout this cursed vessel. The _persona_ is killing them off each day with its cursed mind.  
But there is hope, brethren. _Hope_, I shall say it again. Our Tenreii has engaged a _conglomerate_with other… _reasonable_ Tenreii Fleets. Thanks to blood truce and the _greater matters for a greater good_, they have discovered that we can cut the lifespan of the _Virulency_ to such extent that it would die out within days... or weeks."

Despite the worrisome gazes, many exclaimed lightly in astonishment.  
"This cursed _Virulency_ is one of the many reasons why the weak minds are losing their allegiance to our emperor. Without this biological menace, we could finally reunite the Tenreiis back to its glory and punish those who ever dared to betray the word of our emperor. The _Virulency_ feeds each day on helpless people like you and siphon anything that generates power.  
Brethren. Cooperation is our greatest deed. We must cooperate with the very few other _Tenreii Fleets_ that are willing to serve the for the greater in the shadow of our emperor. The Tenreii High Command of our _Fleet_ has decided to take on this vital and sensitive task that _other fleets_ **never** dared to assess. The first phase is about to be completed..."

Several people looked at each other. Some were even not part of Delophane's _Tenreii fleet_, but it was true that the rivalry between all have fallen as the infectious mass, the so-called _Virulency_, struck. However, the _rivalry_ already existed between the various hundreds of _Tenreii Fleets_ long before the bio-menace struck and was nothing compared to the _true decaying_ of the Tenreii High Commands...  
The Tenreii Major did not mention anything about this but many knew of a small truth. The need for a precious _drug_ and various other means were becoming out of hand. However... Regardless of what was occurring beyond the Mothership, it was the survivors and the reanimated people who forged themselves together, to look beyond the madness and aim for the survival of here and tomorrow. It was the reason why _Galis 12_ and other hundreds of unheard havens will or have prospered.

There were many people of different _bloodlines_ regarding their heritages as seen by the symbols they proudly carried; either as a tattoo or anything that contained the specific insignia of pride. It was clear that a large mass of the survivors did not even know anything about the true happenings beyond the Mothership as they simply awoke in a world of death and chaos.

Even the hearsay of the marine detachments were not truthful as most of the _rivaling Tenreii Fleets_ honorably agreed to do whatever was needed to save the lives still lost or stuck inside their cryogenic coffins deep inside the dreaded Mothership. Such _honorable agreement_ was more of an unstable pact of neutrality; whether it was for the greater good of Taiidan citizens or simply a mean to capture more somewhat _willing_ manpower and material for their agendas - it did not truly matter. Even though, there were still other rogue factions of the former Taiidan armada who were not trustworthy and hostile, but luckily, these learned to stay away from the Mothership for good and haunt _Curse_ of its treachery and riches.

_Somewhere deep within a distant consciousness... The psyche of a waning persona senses how myriads of life-giving cords are torn from her soul. As this psyche barely can withstand the ongoing twisting intrusion of the infection into her very mind and the madness of the outer physical world, she cannot do nothing but witness her very heart being ripped from her body. She is powerless. She cries but she cannot be heard. She screams but her agony remains unnoticed by all those who were doing this to her. Her body is fixed in a spherical liquid prison she cannot escape... and as she feels how the heart is taken from her, her entire surroundings darkens..._

Suddenly, the lights began to flicker until the entire surroundings faded into pure black. Delophane felt every nerve in her body tensed and tingled, merely clutching her lungs with fear. Blinded by darkness, she swept her arms around, knocking against thick legs. Many civilians throughout the large group exclaimed and became unease until finally a series of deep green emergency lights lit the entire surroundings again. Delophane felt how her fear was forging itself onto her skin as cold sweat. Despite being a soldier, she could feel the adrenaline forcing her instincts to act and simply run away... Following the series of blue lights and red emergency diodes coming to life, the entire group heeded the sounds of failing power sweeping across the area.

A familiar yet digitalized voice slowly spoke from various PA speakers throughout the region, Attention... Main power failure throughout all decks. Primary power supply interrupted. Warning... Integrity failures. Engaging emergency protocols... Engaging priority life support protocols... Auxiliary power to maintain basic life support functions...

"Brethren - My bloodkeii. The first phase has been complete..."

"T-Tenreii Major, if I may", the nervous sergeant Takudo finally asked, "Which phase do you speak of? And what is our... _m-mission_?", he continued and bowed his head once more, hoping that this question was not going beyond the edge.

"_Gunso_ Takudo, the _Tenreii Conglomerate_ has conducted the forced ejection of the _Manifold Singularity Core_ from the _Taiika Aksaii Vay_."

"W-What? I mean... What do you mean, sir -? All due respect, but I am just a simple marine."

"You heard correctly. The _Core_ is the heart of this entire Taiidan Mothership. It is the Hyperspace Core, to be precise, that is not only a key element of propulsion but also the prime power generator. What was assumed to be impossible was conducted in a covert cooperation between our Tenreiis. We have induced our efforts and manpower into this plan for the sake of all of our survival. The _singularity core_ is the key to all if we wish to ever survive the treachery of _The Curse_.  
We must not let the _Virulency_ infect and corrupt it. There is a reason why it is so _desperate_. It is dying... It needs to power its mass to somehow lengthen its survival. It has always been encroaching not only for biological material but also the power sources. There is evidence that it had always been making its way to the Core itself, but it always required power to somehow fuel its existence alone… This is apparently the reason why it culled on the thousands of generators and anything else that generated power. We discovered also that it found a way to encroach faster to the Core - But we will not let this happen.  
Even though I do not care about other Tenreii scientists and blasphemy of theories, our High Command agreed that the _Virulency_ must be stopped. It has always been capable of surviving because it could seize energy from power grids as well as bio-material from captivated victims. Of course, the bio-menace is not out only problem. There are other Tenreiis to do deal with, but for now, this menace remains our main and last concern.  
As of now, our _fleets_ are now conducting all that is needed to swiftly engage an immediate hyperjump out of harm's way. Rest assured that they will do their duty to the pride of our distant emperor... Regarding our critical mission, we are to fight our way to the **Core Bridge** of the Mothership, my brethren. It is our destiny to fulfill the true step to ultimate victory. We must ensure that nothing was at vain! This day will historical and our emperor will be proud to hear of our deeds as heroes of the empire!"

"Tenreii Major. Wi-with all respect of the Taiid pride - Th-The _Virulency_, there are... h-hundreds of them - if not thousands of them - and the biomass. Without that core… It should die out - N-Nevertheless, why should we fight those thousands of the biomass if it will die out anyways. All of it is between us and that region where the _Core Bridge_ is locat-", one of the civilians stammered.

"- **We will serve the shadow of the emperor**! Our duty is clear! We will do what is required! We will not fail our mission! It is our only salvation! We will take the most direct passage to _Core Bridge_ and we will overwhelm whatever shall stand in our way - We will pierce through the enemy lines, no matter the costs!"

Takudo did not receive an answer. As the Tenreii Major continued another monolog of pride and honor, Delophane's psyche forgot of the pain as it was now in a world of misery and anger. It was slowly becoming clear to her as to why _Galis 12_ had fallen so suddenly...  
But the poor young marine had no choice. She had awoken into a world of terror and it was her blood and honor to serve the _Tenreii_ and the emperor's shadow. It all made sense now. _Galis 12_ was always just a plank full of expendable people, even more for those who were there to ensure the extraction of manpower and material. Even so, the true matter of abandoning _Galis 12_ was only due to ensure the success of this all-in operation.  
Delophane clenched her fists.

**- Pursuit to Perdition -**

Over the seemingly eternal course of the next three hours, the entire entourage of the Tenreii Major unified with military companies and detachments of other Tenreiis. Thousands of civilian groups joined the forces and vigorously supported the intentions of the man and other prominent Tenreii officers whose pride and will for the emperor's shadow exceeded the capabilities of these laymen. Regardless of heroic strides and the ongoing pursuit to eternal victory, the reality revealed the greatest of challenges yet that tolled by the costs of blood.

The internal regions of the Mothership was **vast**. Each region was almost a world of its own, each ranging at several square kilometers. The path from the region of _Galis 12_ to the very depths of the _Core Bridge_ area was riddled with ongoing battles, decompressed scaffold areas, vast fields of forgotten silent cemeteries and passages full of encroaching infestations. Regardless, the Tenreii officers were in command of a vast regiment willing to penetrate the dangerous lines.

But the process was never that easy. For one, the entire mixed regiment had to fight its way through the verdant hydroponic garden. Death lurked behind almost every deformed tree that had struck roots through the infested soil. There were reports of unknown Tenreiis engaging them, but shear brute force and _mass-than-class_ tactics simply struck through to the next region.

Losses were countered with the annexation of military units coincidentally found - but also even civilian colonists who had just awoken from their malfunctioning cryogenic beds not long ago. They were scantly clothed and even had no idea of what was going on. This did not matter to the Tenreii officers as they immediately impressed them to the hundreds of an armed and bizarrely mixed militia that supported the main forces.

One of the greatest issues of the moving regiment was endurance. The great pursuit and charge ahead met with various resistances as well as the physical limits of simple mortals. The massive wall of people had spread into a narrow irregular stream and arrow that continually pierced ahead. While the abominations were luckily not organized, the sheer numbers and randomness of attacks wore down specific flanks; and whenever a flank collapsed, hundreds found their doom...

Civilians commonly panicked and ran off from the mass, only to be slaughtered and impaled by the vicious abominations.

Delophane's lungs were merely craving for oxygen as she tripped and fell to the cold floor. Her saliva tasted like iron and each breath sung a hoarse tone. Clouds of vapor exited her mouth as she wheezed again and again. It was extremely cold and dark. Flashes frequently lit the area. Ever since the blazing regiment managed to enter the next vast industrial surroundings, the many soon discovered the fact that the air was much thinner than the hydroponic region. However, there was no time to rest. People were screaming all around her. _Move, move, move!_, _flee!_, _help me!_, so many voices screamed at the very peak of their lungs - It was a murderous gauntlet.

Her ear remained upon the floor, sensing every single tremor and sound transmitting throughout. Tracers, rapid-firing muzzle flashes and the endless sounds of mutilated people, chiming bullet shells and thousands of thuds and footsteps kept coming. She was about to get up, but she felt a moment of peace as she remained upon the floor. Bizarre thoughts even filled her mind, hoping she would just die here and now to finally get some sleep.

"Keep moving! Don't stop! Keep moving - V-Vamaii!", one of the marines cried.

The exhausted Taiidan looked to her side and spotted the group of 41st Rifles rushing over to aid her. Three marines covered the arc as the others went over to aid the lying Taiidan woman.

"Oh, just let me be and keep going! I need a - a...", it suddenly appeared that she forgot what she wanted to say.

"Medic! Medic - over here!", Takudo barked and caught the attention of the marine who rushed over to her, "She's exhausted - or something. Can you give her something?!"

The medic used the integrated flashlight of his armored wrist to examine pupil reactions. He also noticed her eyes moving frequently back and forth, hinting that she was suffering the effects of vertigo.

"The air is pretty thin, sergeant! She's disorientated because of that. You all already received injections - However, I doubt she had any yet as she kept letting the civilians get their's first."  
"We don't have time to be staying around here. If we lose the -", the three marines fired another set of high explosive rounds, each booming so loud that it distracted his speech, "- I-If we lose track of the Taiidan Major, we will be forsaken! Now give her that medication!"

Chunks of unknown material fell upon them... luckily, mostly light pieces of metal scraps.

"Th-That will not be sufficient, sergeant."  
"And just why?!"

"It would take a while until her body has produ-"  
"Hell with it! Give her something to speed the process up! Now! **PUMP HER UP**! That's an order!"

"I-I can't just apply battle medicine just like - M-Many of these vials are experimental! Let her recover -", but the medic was simply overwhelmed by Takudo's urge.  
"She... She is an _I.I._ marine like the rest of us, _an imperial issue_, of the Taiidan Empire. As awkward as it sounds as this is coming out of my mouth but... We must all serve him, whether it is him or his shadow! Inject what is needed to bring her to her feet!"

"Sergeant. I must protest... Th-This could kill her...", but the man knew he had to follow orders as he was only a medical non-commissioned-officer holding the rank of private, "Bl-blasted Tenreii... They are going to kill us with these injections long before we see the battle...", he quietly cursed as he grabbed the specific vial cocktails from the small integrated thigh compartment of his suit.

The vial and even the liquid inside were almost as thin as a hair and were no longer than five centimeters. He had various sorts coded for specific means. But there was simply no time to waste. Concerned but willing to do as ordered, he prepared two micro-vials for his integrated injector.

"Wh-Wh-wha - Wait! I -", before she could say anything else, Delophane inhaled briefly as the pain spiked for a millisecond in her neck.

Resetting his injector, he placed the head upon her thigh and fired another two shots that poked through her pants. Using the miniature sensors integrated in his suit's glove and a small portable monitor, he observed Delophane's life signs that did not respond at first... but as seconds went by, the medic then noticed a sudden increase. The man silently prayed that he would have the chance to give her the antidote of the unknown battle medicine that was designated as an aggressive stimulator.

Another group of men and women ran past them. Some looked and wanted to help but were urged by others to get on with this dreaded gauntlet.

Within the next few seconds, Delophane felt how strength was returning, but as it returned, she began to feel warm and the rush in her ears as they pounded. The medic examined her eyes once more with the flashlight, only to discover that her pupils unbelievably huge. There was no doubt that life was coming back to her.

_But at what cost_?

Good... gracious...

Takudo helped her two her feet, but both instantly ducked when another explosion occurred.  
"Vamaii! Vamaii!", he shouted her straight into the face, "Are you with me! Vamaii! Hey!"

She looked around aimlessly before fixing her eyes upon his, "Yes - Yes..."  
"Come on, snap out of it! Take your rifle -", he barked and shoved it into her hands, "Now get going! 41st Rifles! Regroup! Rush to our Tenreii Major! We must keep up with him - Better off staying close to his elite bodyguards as much as we can if we want to survive! We can do it! In group of threes - Aimed shots, only upon aggressors - Covering fire upon our right flank by the ranks! Don't waste ammunition unless necessary! Forward!"

The imperial sergeant helped her up again and the group immediately moved on.

Don't worry, we're almost through! The Taiidan Major informed me to keep up with him. There will be a diversion and a short moment where we can slip through to the next region, Takudo said to Delophane, It sounded like some kind of shortcut. I have no idea, but we must stay with him!

The first marine fireteam formed a row of three and aimed at any possible threat that tried to approach them or assault nearby friendlies. Whenever they charged ahead to the front, they then stopped and held their position until the rest of the entourage managed to move on. Armed civilians followed them on the way. The shouting and onslaughts never ended. People were frequently being severed and impaled by bio-menace that breathlessly attacked them.

The group continued the method until they reached what happened to be an irregular fleet of heavy utility vehicles. Unfortunately, all of these vehicles were out of commission and covered by bio-mechanical residues. Two marines went to the sides and fired aimed shots upon encroaching fiends while the large group rushed between the large vehicles. Although Takudo was not all too certain about this route, it was nonetheless a possibility to get around the greater confrontations all the way to the position of the charging Tenreii Major. Bullets frequently knocked against the bulky frames of vehicles. The group kept moving along between the wide fleet of trucks and heavy vehicles; several spreading along to secure the flanks.

Finally reaching an opening, the group spread out. Takudo ordered them to take a short break as he tried to set his reset his integrated electronic compass upon the current position of the Tenreii Major.  
Delophane threw herself just beneath one of the wrecked vehicles and tried to recover but found herself on the verge of exploding as she feel herself being flooded by vitality.

When she looked further, she spotted a boy who rushed under the same vehicle. He covered his ears and was traumatized by all that he had seen. She figured that he was part of the group that awoke and soon found themselves right into the thick of terror. Somewhere, she understood that he was frightened of all that was happening around him. Alike him, she was also one who awoke in a cold world of absolute terror.

"B-Boy... You there?", she stuttered.

It took the boy some time until he actually noticed that he was not allow.

"Hey, you...", she said as she got to her knees after securing her cannon-rifle, "Where are your parents?"

The boy made a hesitant shake with his head; it was uncertain if he meant that he did not know where they were or worse.

"You are... alone?"  
"Y-Yes"

"...Makes two of us... Hey - So, you can speak", she replied lightheartedly, "What is your name?"

"Altepoor... Riimus."

"Riimus... Hey, why don't you come over to me? It is warmer here than just hiding over their alone."

Delophane kept her arms open. The boy only wore what appeared to be some sort of raggedy poncho and short pants that revealed that he was of a colonist family. After another pause, he finally rushed over to her. She was not sure what do next other than embracing him. The boy noticed that the young woman was very hyper and anxious for unknown reasons. However, he cried as he held her. Something told her that he was certain he would never see his parents again...

When Riimus calmed down, he noticed that he was still cold, "I still feel cold here. You're not warmer..."  
"I know, I just needed somebody like you to warm me up", she smirked lightheartedly and after short pause, she giggled.

Fortunately, humor was contagious and the boy actually began to chuckle as well. But the moment of delight ended abruptly the moment they heard several gunshots not far from their area. Delophane immediately looked to the others.

"What the heck was that?!", one of the marines wondered.  
"Was a rifle, of course", another one mentioned, "Perhaps a group of men heading this way."

"Whatever. I don't like this", Takudo added, "We stayed long enough. Civilians, go along with Private Mitekuur - That direction! Mitekuur has the coordinates pinpointing the current location of the Tenreii Major. Get going - And not so loud. I don't think those were _friends_..."

Riimus -, she whispered as she felt him embracing her waist, Riimus, stay with me and the people ahead of you. I know you are frightened... W-We... all are... But we will take care of you. Come, hold my hand. Everything will be all right...

Making a promise was something that always called upon a curse. Delophane had hoped that all would turn out for the better, but due to the desperate circumstances, things went wrong. The large group had found itself at the edge of the fleet of abandoned industrial vehicles, discovering that there were still hundreds of fiends encroaching upon the running regiment. The region was dark and cold and they now stood before an ongoing battlefield. But Takudo made hopes of only opening fire upon such monstrosities that would attempt to assault them. Finally deciding to make the move, the entire group began their rush across the last portion of the area.

There was no doubt that even the toughest of these marines were nervous. They were running through the darkness just beyond the encroaching monsters and the mass of the regiment that was being flanked. There was nothing they could do as any sort of attraction would be their certain doom. Surprisingly, there were _fiends_ at actually appeared in front of them, but they ignored them. Neither Takudo nor the others understood why they could not see them, but there was no time to waste as none really believed the good fortune would last any longer.

Whether good fortune or not, it was a miracle that the group actually survived...

Not much later, the large group of 41st Rifles and hundreds of civilians managed to cross the wide fields into an industrial complex zone. The Tenreii Major was somewhere beyond this point. Machinery and other abandoned units were found throughout the tight area. The large group randomly split up into three separate groups as they rushed their ways through. The smell of cold rusty air stung their noses as they desperately made their way through the area. Suddenly, Takudo, Delophane and many others stopped when they heard voices not far from their position.

One of the female marines ahead of the troop had raised a fist. Takudo cautiously approached her side.  
Do you hear that? Voices... Or are these combat drugs -  
No, you're not hallucinating. I can hear them as well. I don't know. There are people talking - I guess another one of our groups found people. Maybe civilians. That must be Mitekuur talking there with somebody. Let's -

But then, the sudden cracks of gunfire caused many of the surrounding civilians to exclaim in fear. Shortly after, they then heard people screaming in pain as more bursts of gunfire clattered across the adjacency. Several of Takudo's marines secured the flanks and moved on through the labyrinthine complex until they discovered the mess. Another series of gunfire occurred, this time having civilians fire upon the unknown foes. Takudo moved further until he spotted one his marines on floor.

"M-Mitekuur!", he shouted and immediately rushed to the end of his cover, several marines moved around the obstacles in order to reach better positions.

Takudo and Delophane discovered the taiidan marine lying upon his back as a _dark puddle_ slowly expanded from below. When the marines confirmed that they were in position, they swung around and aimed precisely across the arcs, finding no threats within their vicinity. However, they all still heard the ongoing exchange of gunfire between the other groups. The two marines immediately rushed over and dragged the wounded man back into the small passage, leaving a smeared trails of thick blood as they pulled him by the shoulder units.

"Th-Those... bloody - *hhhnghh* S-Sorry, si-sir... I thought they were - D-Damn it... Tha-that was another Tenreii! Th-They... just opened f- They shot several civilians and -"  
"Shh-Shh - Medic! Get over here!"

""He's with the other group, Takudo"", one of the female marines transmitted.  
"I don't care, just -!"

But it was too late. The hand of the marine fell to the floor and there was no doubt that the medic would have been able to treat his impaled abdominal region. The rounds had penetrated the protective armor, wrecking havoc upon what was behind it. Delophane looked away in disgust and sorrow, but her eyes fell upon another corpse. It was an unknown civilian, whose body revealed much cleaner penetrations.  
Apparently, the actual ammunition was designed to cause even more damage on people who wore armor than those who did not. Takudo did not waste time and took the small plate resembling his dog-tag as well as several rounds of ammunition.

"Those... bastards will pay for this! I don't care who they are!", Takudo shouted across the region, "They're frakking with wrong unit!"

Just as Delophane was about to grab the protective shoulder pad, she suddenly noticed how the man charged forward in blind rage. Something told her that he had gone berserk and that he would get himself killed. She formed a fist and nervously patted it up upon the corpse of the dead private before forcing herself to hurry behind the charging man who already had disappeared through the maze of industrial pipes and containers. She counted several different sounds of gunfire. More people were wounded and there was no doubt that the civilians who decided not to surrender to the hostile Tenreii were immediately executed.

"BASTARDS!", Delophane heard from ahead.

*Choom! Choom! Choom!*  
Three blasts occurred. Something exploded and more people screamed. Battle cries…

As Delophane hurried over to the scene, she stopped and immediately ejected the content of the magazine into one of her utility pouches. The young woman nervously grabbed the standard armor piercing variant. It was far too dangerous to be using high-explosive charges in such tight areas. After loading her cannon-rifle and charging the first round, she continued, jogging forward until she suddenly crashed right into somebody. Delophane caught her balance but spotted the unknown soldier in a white and yellow _S-class armor_.

**Atenreii**, her mind shrieked; the word for a hostile Tenreii - but also easily translated for 'the other', 'the against'... 'the outsider'. But she petrified when she raised her rifle upon this dreaded antagonist.

Before the hostile soldier aligned his aim, he was instantly struck by a shot that tore him away into the passage he just came from. Apparently, Takudo was still going berserk. She needed to get her act together! The black cloud droplets disappeared after it met her face. Delophane moved on until she spotted Takudo aiming her way. Luckily, he did not fire a round and immediately grabbed into his pouch in order to feed his rifle with more single rounds. But it was then when Delophane spotted movements above his position.

Two adversaries...!  
Without a second thought and the urge of a nervous trigger finger, Delophane raised her aim without the aid of the integrated laser-pointer and pulled the trigger several times. Due to her unsecured stance, the cone of fire was unreliable at best but actually distracted the two soldiers by the amount of smoke and whizzing rounds that swept past them. Three armed civilians rushed out cover to her side and did what one would call _spray and pray_. One of the soldiers sustained several hits but was most likely still alive as his suit caught most of the rounds. By the time the other hostile soldier returned to his senses, both of them were then neutralized by a barrage of explosive shells blasting hell high above Takudo. There was no doubt now that he was safe now.

"I think you got him", a marine shouted, "Nice shot."  
"Yeah - Got those bastards! Good job, you guys over there - not bad, for _civilians_."

The trio of armed civilians were lesser enthusiastic about this victory. One of them fell to his knees. However, the others could not allow him to falter now.

"T-Takudo!", Delophane and other marines shouted as they noticed how some of the flames fell upon shoulder piece.  
The young man instantly patted the flames out, "I-I'm fine! Just -", he sighed and coughed many times.

"Clear! - Clear...", two other marines confirmed as they came from other areas.  
""Clear over here... We neutralized four marines - A different Tenreii all right..."", one of the female marines added over radio, ""I cannot recognize their insignia or their appearance, sir... But an Atenreii. Obviously.""  
""Too late asking them"", the medic added with a firm voice, ""They are all dead. Nothing I can do for them…""  
""That's probably for the better. There are no other ones around, sir. Looks like we stumbled upon a basic fireteam. S-Surdek armor; *several exhales* Not many Tenreiis use that one, but let us ignore that. Those… *heavy breathing* - No match for our Shokodai, fortunately"", the female marine broadcasted, ""Extracted dogtags and their equipment whilst maintaining encumbrance capacity. W-We can certainly identify them later.""

"Under-... Understood. Are there any other casualties than Mitekuur and the three civilians of before?"  
""Y-You mean, he's..."", the female marine asked.  
"We lost him, Illstad, right when you and others took on the Atenreii units. The bastards murdered him along with three other civilians... We must assume that this was a fireteam operating throughout this area here. I'm guessing these bastards were out on a patrol or something when all hell broke loose today... We better assume that there is a squad - maybe even platoon lurking throughout this area. Maintain full vigilance. Notify the rest on our Tenreii frequency. Lucky for us that these soldiers did not ambush us that well."  
""Czass... But what about -?""

As if not enough had happen already, Takudo's entourage was then surprised by the series of alarms blazing through the vast halls of the industrial region. As the alarms blared loudly through the region, there was yet another female computerized voice sounding through the area, but area was far too wide for them to understand the muffled words.

"Oh, what is this all about now?!"  
""I don't know, but I think we don't have to worry about it...""

Suddenly, Delophane turned around, "**Takudo** -!", she fretfully shouted as the cloud of her breath shot into the air.  
"What?!"

The face of the young Taiidan woman was so pale that he could see her fretful gaze in the darkness, "Takudo! That alarm - It's **that alarm again**... Remember what happened at the hangar back - It's... It is the **decompression alert**!"  
The sergeant listened carefully; she was right, "Everybody! Meet up at Illstad's beacon - We've got to make a run for it! To the Tenreii Major! HURRY!"

The lifesigns of the comatose patient were elevated. Another being in a medical outfit examined the displays of the slumbering Taiidan woman. The person did not seem worried as he gazed upon the display that revealed the possible cause for the rise. Discovering heightened neural activity, it was simple to assume that the Taiidan below was expressing a vivid dream.

**- The illogical Persona -**

= Somewhere deep within the Taiidan Mothership =

/watch?v=IUzq9jE3c_M

Deus Ex - Naval base Infiltration

Delophane fell to her knees, not even sensing the pain as they thudded against the solid floor. The severely injured civilian she carried with another marine unfortunately fell with her as she lost balance. Noticing that there was no reaction, the two instantly understood that the person they carried for so long was already dead. Like many throughout the dark area, she was out of breath and exhausted. Regardless of being marines or mere liberated civilians, the waves of these people were in dire shape. Many were dirty, injured and traumatized by the events of the last hours.

_Three hours... If not four long hours…_

The young Taiidan woman felt how each pulse rushed through her body. Still upon her knees, her arms supported the weight of her torso. She frequently spat the excessive saliva that tasted like blood. Even her teeth ached; not to mention the rest of her limbs. Her shivering arms could barely counter the weight of her torso. There were several confrontations against the vicious abominations and even decaying ones that were not much of a threat. Very cold air swept across her exposed arms and neck.

Delophane looked around.

People of all kinds were spread amidst the area; People of which who were found on the way and who were lost. There were loose marines who had been lost and who were from other fallen havens. Several were not even part of Tenreii armies that had been looming throughout _Curse_ and this dreaded titanic mothership. Apparently, these soldiers had been acting on instincts and survival. The mass of civilians made it impossible to gauge their true status, but all certainly shared the same history - They were on the run.

Takudo had taken a hit to the shoulder. It was a severe impact from a shard but he was still alive. The shoulder piece was severely dented and he was quite shaken from the devastating blow. The combat medic insisted not to apply any meds as this pain was more or less keeping him alive and awake. The application of the powerful pain medications would only cause him to fall unconsciously.

This dark area was a lot different than the various regions they had rushed through. After clearing throughout another interior scaffold area, she discovered that this region had to deal with the primary citadel within the endless realms of the mothership. Experimental and other unusual equipment revealed that this was an executive area.

Delophane gazed upon the Tenreii Major and others of his superior unit. They did not appear to be exhausted. They took certain hits but their armor protected them. Even so, they were not as exhausted as the mass they baited and forced to run for the last hours. There was something about these people that was different than the ordinary Taiidan.

Of course, the Major and his men still required an expendable army willing to _serve_ whatsoever agenda and intention. Something told Delophane that their heightened and seemingly inexhaustible stamina had to do with the sophisticated suits they wore. Something that affected the natural physiology. She had no clue, however, for she was just an ordinary marine with knowledge over conventional matters.  
She suddenly scoffed and looked to the floor. The reason they stopped was likely because they had almost reached the Major's destination and not because the entire mass of people behind him were coughing their lungs out. The superiors did not even show the slightest damage, not even any sort of sustained psychological injuries. There somewhat hidden faces revealed focused minds.

Delophane then discovered a disgusting corpse she had not noticed before. The body appeared to be sitting upon the floor with its back against another corridor's wall. The body had been there for quite some time. There was no doubt about that as most of the flesh was mangled by time and traces of the virulent menace, leaving nothing but punctured armor and skeletal remains. She looked back at the Tenreii superiors who did not even look at the surroundings they were at.  
_Bastards…_  
Looking over towards the other marines of the 41st Rifles, several of them were obviously just as traumatized as the rest of the people around them. Before she said a word, several of them reacted to the wave of astonishment going through the groups of people. People began to raise not only themselves, but their weapons as well. They even bunched together, back-at-back as they discovered approaching figures. Beams of flashlights swept through the darkness. Delophane fought to stand up. Practically all muscles were so strained that she barely could raise the _Shokodai_ cannon-rifle. Its muzzle frequently slid and knocked against the floor until she fell to her knees again. While a powerful weapon at the disposal of her Tenreii, the creators had little respect for balancing its weight.

Hundreds of people aimed at the selected groups that approached from the sides. Her heart skipped a beat the moment she recognized the approaching people… **More Tenreii marines in exo-suits** - **Mixed atenreii marines! **  
Delophane and the others did not seem certain if any of those were part of the marines that had assaulted them, but they were Atenreii units for sure. Although the mass of civilians exceeded these approaching Atenreii units, there was no doubt that this would end in an uncontrollable massacre.  
After hearing a row of light yet rapid footsteps, Delophane felt a grip around her waist.

R-Riimur! S-Stay back!

The boy was frightened and did not let go. She embraced him shortly, but anxiously hid him behind her. Two of the marines in the bulky blue armor surrounded the boy by their backs, providing him cover as they aimed at the approaching figures. Delophane felt thankful for the others coming to aid her but she clenched her teeth together as she had no idea what this was all about.

/watch?v=HpL-FwLRiXU

Xcom: Apocalypse - Alient Infiltration

"Tenreii brethren", the Taiidan Major called out loudly, "Stand down. You will lower your weapons."  
Certain non-commissioned officers and even Takudo sounded waves of disagreement but the Major barked his order one last time. The NCOs then ordered the others to do as demanded. Following this rather delicate moment, they discovered a man approaching the group. The steps were audible, clearly hinting that this person was wearing an exosuit.

"The Emperor's shadow", the superior figure in the darkness sounded.  
"The Emperor's shadow", the Major repeated.

_Allies_? Not at all… but with these simple words, they easily accepted a mutual truce. One could rest assured that truces were a matter that would remain standing. Of course, in times like these, one had to be wary about the very moment the truce would end.

The figure came closer, cutting into the faint cone of deep blue light. Apparently, it was an Atenreii Major or Colonel. His suit was different than that of the Tenreii Major; stronger, thicker, yet elegant and authentic, easily hinting that this individual was a key warrior in the line of his Tenreii. Like other serving Tenreii officers, he also possessed a notable cultural blade. Likewise, this key individual had seen much of war, as the traces and marks on his suit undoubtedly revealed. There was no doubt that this man was actually much tougher than the Tenreii Major himself. The two superiors gazed at each other for a long time.

"You cannot stop us", the Major suddenly said.  
"Yes. We can", the Atenreii leader replied with a firm voice.

Even with silence reigning throughout the mass of people, one could sense the waves of fear flowing through the area. Dirges of cries sounded in the distant.

"Whatever you may do, we will be victorious. You cannot stop us. We serve the Emperor's shadow. We must do what is required for the survival of his brethren. It is for the greater good, Atenreii. Heed my words. I can sense you are not here as an adversary. You may be here for a reason, but I do see that you are uncertain. Even more, I sense you know of our intention - our duty."

The Atenreii did not respond.

"For decades have we **struggled**. There had always been a source to all our problems... all our miseries. A source that should had been dealt with that very first moment it failed us... All due to that _illogical piece of a persona_ that looms in that chamber far behind you. I can see that you are here as the Honor Guard that was once assigned to protect this persona."

_Honor guard_?

This thought went through the minds of others. The Honor Guard was indeed one of several elite detachments that protected the inner sphere command of the Taiidan Mothership. It was true now; they were not far away from the Core Bridge chamber. However, like various elite detachments, the story of the Honor Guard was just as elusive and enigmatic as the terrors of the Taiidan Mothership and Curse. Yet nobody could understand the statement of the Imperial Major regarding this _persona_. He spoke as if this was the ultimate error that had brought the entire mothership to its perdition.

"Or should I say… _what is left of the Honor Guard_. We know of your shame."

There was something about the Honor Guard that was disturbing and mysterious. For sure, Delophane could feel how Takudo cringed, knowing - or not wanting to know - how many people had been shot into the backside of the neck by these cunning people of elite leadership. Many only heard of rumors, but it did not matter as the Tenreii Major was revealing that he knew of something and that he would take advantage of it. The situation was desperate and instable, yet for some reason, something told the others that the Major was gaining the upper hand.

"You cannot stop our destiny", the Tenreii Major continued, "We have evidence that the _Virulency_ would still crave for something. Even without the Singularity Core… It would still crave to consume what lies behind you - and we must fulfill our destiny."  
"Th-This… This is preposterous… You will kill all that are onboard this Mothership - Those who still -"

"SILENCE, Atenreii. You will stand down. You will not engage. We will fulfill what the emperor's shadow wills us. It is our duty to bring the end to all!", the Imperial Major firmly stated to his counterpart.  
"WE HAVE PLEDGED TO SERVE THE EMPREROR! WE -….", the Atenreii leader shouted at the Major, but he stammered; his aim shook, "We…"

The others sensed how tension was building with each second. The other Atenreii had raised their aims, ready to unleash hell.

"We - We surrender to your word."  
"B-But -", another Atenreii marine stuttered but was immediately ordered to obey his leader.  
"No... It is over. Our duty is over... It had been over ever since we entered this... _Cursed Realm_", The masked Atenreii leader continued, "We… have failed. Long before this. The Tenreiis we now serve are too naïve! As we were. We are already living with dishonor. Standing our guard here no longer means anything."

"I hereby accept your surrender. You are to remove your weapons and hand them over to my subordinates."

After a short exchange, the Atenreii leader had only one considerable weapon left over, but the Major raised his hand, denying it. The Atenreii seemed confused.

"You may have dishonor, but I will not take what is left of you. You are reasonable and honor the way of Taiid..."  
The Atenreii straightened his stance without saying a word.  
"It is time. I hereby give you the freedom of choice... Either to follow us and later retreat with us... or stay and perish here. I will of course hand you your weapons, but the _Virulency_ will sooner or later come for you - or other Atenreiis..."

The subordinate leadership of the Tenreii Major ordered all to move on. It took much strength for the exhausted people to get to their feet to continue, but ultimately, they began to move. As the last waves of people moved on, the Tenreii Major was about to move on when the Atenreii leader grasped his arm.  
"Y-You know… You know that this is not necessary. This act... You will bring damnation upon us if you -!"  
The Major released his arm with subtle aggressiveness. His answer was clear.

The Atenreii did not even dare to look behind. Having no choice, they slowly followed, albeit extremely concerned of the future.

From this moment on, _they were an Honor Guard no more_.

= The Core Bridge of the Taiidan Mothership =

/watch?v=NWxn4FNBozk

Xcom: Apocalypse - Shadows

The mass of people slowly entered the dark yet enormous chamber. Voices echoed. It was unbelievably vast dome. There were a sheer endless number of consoles, platforms and just about anything that dealt with sophisticated natures of such a mothership. Even so, the domed ceiling was far away. The limping people spread amidst the area as they cautiously moved through the area. There was a notable fog in the thick and humid air. Drops of what appeared to be slimy water constantly fell from the ceiling. Some people discovered that bits of the infestation had found its way here, but died out. It appeared that there were several attempts of the _Virulency_; yet its reach died out. People scared back when they discovered dried roots and veins of the menace that had consumed one of the terminals.

Despite the draft of cool air, this region was considerably warm and humid. Although there were puddles, slimy moss and whatever that actually fit to the hydroponic region, most of the equipment was undamaged. Although, certain people discovered shattered screens and bullet holes across the area, hinting that something went seriously wrong here as well. A selected few exclaims occurred, which happened to be people who were slowly suffering nervous breakdowns.

The vast amount of mortals were never here before; not to mention that it was always thought to be impossible to come this far or even to this somewhat sacred place. But the people soon discovered that they were approaching the end of their journey. As more and more people fell to their knees in exhaustion, the marines and the superiors continued until they reached the epicenter. Delophane dragged her heavy rifle along as well as her bruised leg. The boy, Riimur, kept close to her as they moved on.

"Is this…?", Illstad asked.  
"Guess this' the place", one of the male marines noted, "By the smell, at least."

The smell was obnoxiously sweet and humid.  
"If… That is true, then _that thing_ we are approaching must be…"

Delophane lifted her head and stopped as the rest of the people. She fell to her feet once more, as did many others. It appeared they had finally reached the destination.

All gazed upon the gigantic spherical tank upon a platform. Hundreds of very thick cables came from all sides. The vast ceiling came down to it as upside-down colossi of monolithic mainframes and supercomputers. Humidity and whatever else of this environment had eaten away some of the frames, but all was still functional, apparently. The mass of these mainframes was simply astonishing.

But the eyes soon fell upon the gigantic spherical tank again. It was filled with a thick fluid. The lack of light made it hard to determine what the liquid itself was, but there was no doubt that something was inside… No… It was _somebody_! A body! A selected few dared few more steps closer, allowing their eyes to discover the faint surfaces in the seemingly thick fluid. Thick cables and other things wrapped around the body that happened to be that of a female.  
It was young woman! Had she drowned within this fluid?

"O-Okay… This is getting crazy. Looks like there is a… scantily-clad woman in there - And not that I'm complaining but…", one of the marines said as he lowered his aim, "Since when do -?!"

But he was interrupted by the moment the renowned digitalized voice of the female spoke. The voice was faintly garbled, yet the words itself slithered in an unusual manner like never before, sometimes repeating terms and changing its pitch within each pronounced word randomly:

W-WhaAAt… HAVe. yoU…. D-DoNE? Wh-WhAT hA-aaave…. YOu…. DONE…

The others looked at each other with confused faces. The voice sparked memories. It was indeed the voice that was thought to be only of a computer for many - but no, it was that of the being that was inside. There was no doubt. While various people knew that there was an iconic being that was a key role of the Mothership, nobody expected her to be swimming within in this spherical tank.

_How could she breathe? Why was her body submerged in this liquid?_

But the Tenreii Major did appear to waste any more time. His movement revealed that he did not want to talk. It was as if he knew exactly what to do. He did nothing but engaged an approach towards the sophisticated sphere.

"S-Stop! St-Stop!", another voice barked; A voice of a frightened man suddenly shouted, "Hold it - r-right there, or I will **shoot**!"

Several marines raised their aim to the location of the voice. Other civilians rushed behind cover, finding terminals as solid protection. Delophane decided to brace herself with the boy.

"Who are you?", one of the Tenreii subordinates barked, "Reveal yourself!"

All but the superiors of the Tenreii maintained their standing pose as others around them hid behind cover. It was not easy to determine where this person was shouting from.

"I-I know what you are going to do, you bastards! How dare you do this to us! Y-You're going to seal the fate of millions of people! **Your p-people**!", the man's voice echoed, "We have come so-so… so far and y-you bastards out there in space have returned to kill us all!"  
"REVEAL YOURSELF! Who dares speak to us like this!"

Shh, down- down!, one of the marines said to Delophane and others, I think I spotted him! He's armed. Stay down! Stay low!  
Who is this man?, Illstad wondered.

"You… You - TENREII people. You bastards! You self-proclaimed damn heroes who think they can just lead people by an emperor that is dead! Why don't you face the truth that the emperor is **dead**?!", the unknown man shouted and coughed several times, "And now you say we are to serve his shadow? What is that nonsense! A-And now you are coming to kill us all! Y-You are monsters - You are no better than the _V-Virulency_ - Tha-That… No… You… **YOU ARE THE TRUE BEAST** - You are the bane of what is left of our Taiidan bloodkeii!"

The hundreds of people could not understand what this man was rambling about but he was dead serious about his words. He was so certain and he was even becoming frantic as he spoke further.

"And now y-you've removed the Core! D-Don't you see what you are doing?! _She_ has done all for the best of our people and the word of the emperor! We have journeyed through the galaxy - To seek a new Homeworld in the name of the Taiidan nation! Y-You are now killing the people who are our very own blood and soul! Don't you understand?"

"W-Wait!", Delophane shouted, "We-We're here to help! We're here to end this madness! To eternally stop the _Virulency_ from consuming this a-area."  
"What are you talking about?! Do - Do you even know what you are talking about?! I do not know who you are but you have no clue what you are talking about - or what you are doing - o-or in fact what these Tenreii people are about to do! You're being manipulated by the Tenreiis! Shut up, woman, you are nothing but a slave to these people who say they act in the true name of the emperor's shadow!"

The Tenreii Major raised his arm to his loyal bodyguards, signaling them not to interfere with this Taiidan woman.

"We're not enemies! Why don't you -?"  
"We're already dead, thanks to you - Tenreii-types!"

Delophane suddenly held her breath for a moment. She did not know what was going through her mind, yet she had no real control over herself. After handing her weapon over to the nearby marine, she gently pushed the boy away as well. The marine took her weapon, but the moment he felt the boy pushed over to him, he looked at the two subjects with confused eyes.  
W-What the - Hey, what are you -

The young taiidan woman suddenly stood up, "W-Wait… I'm here. I'm coming out! I'm unarmed!"

Just as one of the Tenreii subordinates was about to act, the Major raised his hand once more, gesturing them to remain silent and let the Taiidan woman respond. Delophane slowly limped on as she made her way through the low maze of irregular terminals.

"Nothing hidden... No tricks. Nothing. Listen - We need to talk. I-I know you are frightened just like the mass of the people here. I mean no harm to you. I'm unarmed", she continued with a shaky voice, "I may be a marine but I assure you am not here to do blind murder. None of us are. Yes, we are here for some mission, but I assure you were doing what is best for -"  
"I don't care who you are. I only know that this is the end of all. Everybody blames _her_, but it was never _her_ fault!"

"W-Who do you speak of?"  
"_Her_-… Shodanii. Daughter of an honorable Tenreii officer - at least that is what I have heard ever since. She is the one who has sacrif-sacrificed herself her bloodkeii and sole as a sole navigator for not only this Mothership but also the second _Taiika Aksaii Vay_"  
, the unknown man shouted back, "  
She has guided the two Motherships through Hyperspace for many years! But it is not her fault that we are lost in this endless cursed nebula! Heed my words! We-We've never really understood the _Manifold Singularity Core_! There are **many** theories that prove that this was not her doing! We always thought we could understand this... _technology_ but we were simply blinded by our own arrogance as Taiidans of a proud empire… It is the fault of those who are not part of this dreaded expedition - not her fault! I... I can prove these theories. I can finally prove them - but now... after all these years in this _cursed_ nebula, people are now out to kill Shodanii, me and what is left of the Taiid honor."

"We're not here to kill anybody!"  
"J-Just how naïve are you? First you people tear the Core right out of the Mothership, ripping all that was left that would keep the colonists' alcoves active and alive. Shodanii was losing her control over the alcoves and the rest of the mothership as command algorithms were being misinterpreted by the supercomputers each day! I have been here day and night, struggling with her to save the people. Many of the scientists of the citadel have left on expeditions  
- To establish onsite locations, so we could allocate the resources. I've lost contact to them due to those dreaded Tenreii fleets and marines like you - who were _just following orders_ or finding more of that dreaded longevity drugs or whatever resources! We thought we could be reasonable with you - but many of my colleagues were executed or kidnapped! There are hundreds of other scientists still out there somewhere... They have disappeared, nowhere to be found or heard.  
The executive detachments already had abandoned us long before, who are now in the leadership of your beloved Tenreiis. The Honor Guard ensured our safety... but as I can see now... They have ultimately faltered. I... I must thank them, though... They are the last of honorable men and women to stand with us in these dark times... More and more people tried to find ways how to extend our survival here at the Core Bridge… b-but th-they are gone, too! I'm sure they found worse than the _Virulency_…"

"Please… I tell you. We want to end all the trouble. L-Listen, I do not understand what you speak of, but I assure you that we are not monsters. We are not part of those Tenreiis that had slaughtered anybody! I-I know that there are times where we question leadership, but… In the end, we are here to serve and protect the colonists. And -"

Delophane suddenly spotted the figure rising from an unexpected spot. She froze. Standing not much further away and to the left, Delophane gazed upon a matured man who nervously held a light submachine gun. It was not easy to determine his face, but it was clear that he had been surviving in this area for far too long. His messy hair, his beard and his awkward lab coat easily hinted that he had been struggling here for a mere eternity. The young taiidan woman spotted packages of field rations and durable water packages. A durable water bottle was knocked over as his legs unintentionally kicked them away.

"Mister… Please… Are you alone here or are there others?"  
"Other than Shodanii? - I'm alone here, fool! The others left, to seek a new place to survive. I don't know how many weeks... or months - I decided to stay, for I knew my duty and place: The survival of the colonists. And now that the Core was removed, my duty is now needed more than ever!"

The man had long unkempt hair and his irregular beard easily hinted that he had not seen neither a soul nor any piece of civilization for ages. The iconic lab coat was extremely dirty and torn. As of now, the lab coat had absorbed most of the disgusting green and dark smudges. Apparently, he did not really know how to use the weapon he held at her and the group as he held the submachine gun with both hands at the grip rather than the skillfully secured manner to keep it stable. Yet, he was deeply frightened and his aim was shaking. Truly, he was nervous, but as long as nobody did anything hasty, he would not shoot. Delophane was somewhere sure about it. However, he still swung his aim back and forth.

"Look, mister… Please put the gun down. If you shoot, they will certainly retaliate. We're here to do something about the _Virulency_. I'm sure that we can cooperate with each other. I'm sure of it. We do not mean you any harm. Can't we get Shodanii out of here?"  
"What?!"

"Th-The woman in that tank, can we get her out of there?"  
"*Sigh* I've been working day and night on that. You _mortals_ do not have a clue regarding her. Sh-She is more or less stuck in that take - physically. Removing her would kill the body, and lastly her spiritual self that is connected with to this Mothership...  
I was on the verge of finding a solution! Although it would take serious dedication and consideration to detach her without killing her, I actually found a way; I only needed to access a specific terminal. B-But that was when you Tenreii people removed the Core - I could save her life, I know I can... It may take more time... but..."

"But then, by all means, let us help you! I'm sure the Tenreii Major is willing to help you. We are not like the other Atenreiis. We are not corrupted by madness. You have my word. Please, come to me. Let us not have this end in bloodshed. W-What were you actually going to do next?"

The man was still hesitant but it was clear that his concern was all about the helpless woman inside the spherical tank. Slowly moving to the side, he made his was towards the tank until it was in reach. His left hand slid upon it as he walked around to towards the front side of it. None the others reacted as he cautiously moved on whilst aiming at them and Delophane.

I don't believe it. He's actually cooperating., Takudo said, as he maintained his low profile, Damn it… This shoulder is killing me…  
Keep… it… up… Delophane. You're getting through to him, Illstad said to herself.

"I… I was going to - To… What… was I going - Y-Yes, of course. I was going to access one of the terminals just before the tank. I was… going to access it. An-And open it", he said, as if he was reminding himself of something that was long forgotten.

There was a notable change in his voice. It was a lot calmer. One of the marines noticed the nearby packages of medical pills. Apparently, this man was using various mediations to counter whatever issues he had. One of the consoles had so many different packages that it was clear that he was psychologically instable.  
Delophane and a few others looked towards the frontal arc of the huge spherical tank, spotting the sophisticated console that was right before it.

"B-But of course. I had concluded one of my ideas. It was a way to remove her body without severing the link to the supercomputers just yet. I-I… I figured that it was essential to maintain the link for severing it would kill not only her but all functions of the mothership. W-We lost the Core, but I could still perform it. Although I could need some… help…"

"Then let us help you. We are here. Please… Put down the gun. It is the only thing that is keeping us from helping."

He suddenly raised it at her, "Th-This is the only thing keeping me safe from _the Beasts like you_!"  
"W-We're not enemies. Please, we're running out of time. Look, j-just opening the tank. I'm sure we can help get the woman's body out of there. H-How about this, mister", Delophane explained carefully as she lowered her hands again, "You keep the weapon. See it as a safety. Open the tank and slowly move away. We will do the rest by your instructions. J-Just assure us that you will keep your aim secured and low. We do not want anybody hurt. Too many people died already today."

His arms shook again.  
The body inside did not move the lips, yet it spoke through the speakers,  
FiiRkeT… PleAaASe. They. Wish… to help us… O not hARm theM, Shodanii's voice echoed through the entire dome.

He turned around, laying his hand upon the surface of what he apparently obsessed, "D-Don't worry, Shodanii. You have been captivated in this cold prison for far too long. It is time - time f-for you to be freed. I will save you. You will be free - We will be... free..."  
Fiir…

Delophane fell slightly upon a nearby terminal and sat down. It appeared the man came to his senses, although he was still nervous. At least it was clear now that he would not be shooting anybody. She looked at the tank he gazed into.  
So this was the so-called _illogical persona_?

Although Delophane did not know much about her, she did recall an event she had seen when she was much younger; about a young woman who was going to be part of something big - Something that had to do with the Taiidan Motherships. Little did she know that this had to do with something this serious. Nevertheless, the High Command and just about anything else never gave insight.

This _scientist_, Fiirket, was apparently one of the many who were obviously part of the former Core Bridge crew. His true field and profession remained unknown but it did not matter.

Anyhow, this was probably over. Delophane sat upon the console as marines of the 41st Rifles came to her.  
"I cannot believe what you just did there, Delophane", Illstad said, "I did not know you knew how to handle hostage situations."  
"H-Hostage?"

"Well, judging the situation, he was aiming at _you_."  
"Oh… Y-Yes."

"Whatever", another marine said, "I think she did the best. Despite this guy being… I don't know."  
"Whacked?", one of the others said.  
"Wonko?", Illstad added.

"Enough. Knock it off", Takudo said with a painful voice, "Good job, Delophane. Just next time, don't just walk off like that."  
"I promise."

She looked over at Fiirket, who shortly laid the submachine gun aside to access the terminal. After a brief moment and possibly several access codes, biometric queries and confirmations, a sequence occurred and an event occurred. All attention fell upon the spherical tank.

"Don't worry, Shodanii", the confused scientist said towards the shell, "Once we have you out of there, and once I am able to safely terminate the link, we will seek your father. I think it is time you finally receive the attention you should get from the man that is your father and not some dreaded officer."

_A thought shot through Delophane's mind. Something that reminded her of her own situation…_

Th…. ThaNk you… FiirKEt… YoU… Have been there - FoR mE… aLL tHIsss time...ThROUGh...

"I know, Shodanii. It was always an honor. You are a friend. I am here to help. It is my duty as well", Fiirket said as the tank was slowly opening, "It is almost done. We will get you out of there!", he happily said as he turned around with both palms upon the huge sphere whilst looking deep into it; the woman inside smiled, "It - It is open, Shodanii. It is open! I'm so happy about you, Shodanii… Finally… We can free you of your prison… And -"

***PRHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!***  
A sudden crack echoed many times throughout the doom. Several people ducked as they were shocked by the sudden blare. Everybody gazed at the source of the noise, not believing what was happening.  
Shodanii's body reacted as it gazed upon the Taiidan man who looked down. There was a faint mark upon the shell of the tank… and droplets of a dark fluid. Looking down upon himself, he spotted warm fluid patch upon his dirty lab coat slowly expanding.

**PRHAAM! PRHAAM! **

More shots sliced through him, ricocheting or merely clashing upon the surface of spherical tank as the rounds sliced right through his torso. Spinning around almost uncontrollably, his weary gaze fell upon the man in the authentic exosuit who held a specific pistol straight away. His back fell upon the shell.  
FiIIrkeT! NooOOoooOooooooooo - Wh-What haVE YoU doNe?!

"I serve the emperor's shadow… Always", the Tenreii Major began, "and I will perform my duty. You have opened the last gate to the monster that brought us to this _cursed_ world. I will put an end to it for I serve the emperor's shadow!"

Everybody else who was not a Tenreii officer was more than shocked as they stared at the dying man who still stood upon weary legs. Delophane was even more shocked, for she had not expected such to happen. She stood up and made several steps forward... but she was simply startled of what she had just witnessed.

She thought the Tenreii Major was reasonable regarding this matter but she was totally wrong. He took the chance of her convincing the man of something that was needed. The scientist had opened the spherical tank that was possibly the last barrier the Major needed to bypass… and regarding his mission; the end of the _illogical persona_ was meant to obliterate the living being inside it - not the supercomputer or anything regarding artificial intelligence!

Petrified by the happening, Delophane wanted to respond but remained frozen. Not a single word left her mouth.

The man began to spill blood from his mouth, barely able to say the name of the captivated woman behind him, "Sh-Shhhhrdnnii… *hrrlghl*"  
The fall to the side left an arcing trail of blood upon the shell.  
FiiRkEt! Fiirket! … FiiRHHH-KeeEEEhhhhet!

The Tenreii Major approached the platform. He stopped and looked at the dying scientist who was merely drowning in his own essence. Fiirket vainly fought to turn around, trying to speak the name of Shodanii as his hand felt the cold surface of the shell. The Major looked away and climbed the narrow passage that led him to the top and upper podium of the spherical tank. Everybody simply held back.

"I am the end of what devil has brought us to _CURSE_. You are the bane of all… Shodanii. And it is the sole order of another Tenreii leader, **your father** who has giving the order to all other Tenreiis to exterminate your life as your cursed existence and deeds to our people taints his honor. He no longer accepts you as his daughter. You are shame to him and the rest of the Taiidan armada. You are not worthy for the emperor and I shall be your executioner! WEAPON!"

One of the loyal Tenreii marines tossed his assault rifle at the Major who skillfully caught it and armed it.  
Shodanii's voice screamed many things, called for Fiirket many times and begged for mercy. The woman's body actually moved but could not free itself as it was fixed by the various cables and things that held the body at its place.

"Silence… Monster", the Tenreii Marine said, "The supercomputers and other assets of it shall remain intact. There will be a time where the Tenreiis will need to siphon the regenerative fuels from this dreaded mothership. Yet, there is no point in maintaining the only thing that is left for the _Virulency_. You are to be blamed for your failure to the Taiidan Empire! You have brought nothing but peril to your people! You are the shame to all that is left in his emperor's shadow! I spit at you… and for your shame and those who lost their lives on your behalf, there shall be nothing but death!"

YoU… Don'T… UUUnnndEEErRStand - K-IkilliiNNNg meE wiLL uNleasH eTern-

"Listen to your voice… I can see and hear it clearly now: Y-You are already being corrupted by the _Virulency_ as we speak! This can only mean that it is on the verge of consuming you! No, you must be terminated! For the sake of what is left in the emperor's shadow! I will purge this corruption - Once and for all!"

No… NoooOO - Fiirket! PlleeAAse- Nooo - TheRe iS hope! For s-suRvival! CalcLationS were sucCessF -

The Tenreii Major aimed downwards into the opening of the fluid. Activating the laser pointer, the thin beam broke its path as it cut through the thicker fluid, allowing him to correct his aim at best.  
"You have always been giving calculations, monster. You've been corrupted long before anybody even noticed it... You have been feeding all the Tenreiis with your false numbers ever since… - Your dreaded, twisted tongue!"

Shodanii suddenly petrified… For it was true what he said. The myriads of Tenreiis operating throughout this nebula had been lost for years, relying on calculations, nebula cartography and many other things that were operated and calculated by her mind. However, ever since the _Virulency_ had emerged, her mind was corrupted long before she even noticed it to this very day and moment. Ever since, she had been feeding vessels and everything that was reliant to navigation with false data… likely stranding fleets eternally sooner or later…  
Scout flotillas would be mindlessly dispatched by the Tenreiis, only to emerge in an entirely new location... lost... and to perish as months turn into years of solitude.  
Fiirket's body no longer moved. For the first time however, Shodanii somewhat revealed that it truly was her fault.

F…FaTheR… seNt... YoU... I...

Before anything else was said, three shots zinged instantly through the submerged body. Three perfect lines left trails of small bubbles that struck through Shodanii's torso. The body motioned wildly yet remained subdued at its spot. Dark clouds expanded, consuming sight of this frantic body. The agony must have been unimaginably terrifying. Outsiders could not bear the sight. Delophane and the other marines remained startled as they could not remove their eyes from the body that did not die. The Tenreii Marine was a sadist as he did not place a perfect aim to end the life swiftly. Instead, he let Shodanii suffer. The body became more and more shrouded by the clouds spraying from the punctures.

FffaaTher-NoooOooOOOoooOOooOonhghghoooogghooo….

There were sounds that one soon interpreted as a constant tone… a flatline. At that very moment, several systems suddenly began to shut down and with each second, specific regions of the Core Bridge seized their activity.

_Twitches... Nervous twitches..._

The young Taiidan woman opened her eyes when she noticed a metallic sound occurring from her right side.  
Delophane turned around... spotting Fiirket in a massive puddle of his own blood; vainly grasping upon the last seconds of his life. His shaking arm held something straight at her.

She paralyzed as she recognized the shaking muzzle aiming upon her.

"Y-...Youuuuuu *nnnnghhh!*"

_Darkness_

**To be continued**


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: Due to the closure of a youtube account, Homeworld music tags for the optional themes are currently unavailable until I find a new source. Nevertheless, optional postings such as HW:Catacylsm soundtrack entries may be found. These are just optional ways to support the readers' impression of the story.

**Chapter 2 - Len'Tiirva Taiid **

"**...!"**

Following the brief gasp, the sudden shock sparked every single synapse in her head to call her back into immediate consciousness. But as her eyes shot open, they immediately ached the moment light touched her senses. Forms and figures remained obscured. The unpleasant sensation was now to remain for the next moments to come as it spiked into her mind.

Any psychical movement immediately caused the pain of a thousand nail to stab her body, rendering her paralyzed by the shear soreness of this moment. There was pressure still applied upon her limbs, somewhat attempting to keep her at her place as she fought with short-lived cramps.

And then... There were voices - Hollow at first, but slowly becoming comprehensible. The young woman required a substantial amount of time until she calmed down. Finally, when she remained steady, she felt how the grips released her sides. Her head fell back upon a soft and comfortable fabric that was quite soothing for her strained neck.

The young woman groaned.

"Steady, Vamaii. Steady" , the figure spoke down to her, "You over there, secure this here. Thank you - and by all means do not even attempt to sniff that, for that is an extremely potent ammoniac."

She felt two pairs of grips keeping her at bay, countering her reactions as she tried to free herself. Two other voices repeated that she was not in danger.

"You are in safety. Very well - You can release her, gentlemen. Give her some room", the first voice suggested.

Cool air rushed upon her arms when she removed them from the strange fabric that covered most of her body. The young Taiidan placed her hand upon her face, apparently trying to cope with a headache and sore eyes. She heard how the two unknown persons moved back more.

"What... What is going on? T-Takudo? Illstad? Wh-Where?", she called out loud before falling back upon the bed, "*Mmmh...!*"

Weariness overcame her; her head still plagued by crushing pressure. However, this was not the only source of agony. The young woman sensed stabbing pain just upon her stomach as well as an unexplainable sore and bruised cheek. She then noticed an unusual yet large bracelet attached to her forearm. Though her sight was blurry, she felt a row of cables leading away from it.

"Don't pull that out, Vamaii. The treatment process is almost complete. It is currently removing infusions from your bloodstream. Again, you are in safety. We are treating your injuries. - You over there, please apply another single dosage unit of the designated pain medication to her", the man said to one of the others before turning back upon her, "Jotoheii Vamaii, please, calm yourself. You are in safety."

"- B-But the _Virulency... Galis 12_", she then frantically called at the man, soon to become aware of flashbacks, "Gracious... Riimus. Th-The boy! H-He was on one of the other corvette shuttles - That explo-"

"Galis 12? What is that?", The man wondered as he looked at the other people, "Is that a vessel - a Tenreii?"

"Perhaps I can answer this", another voice then said.

The others spotted the young officer; a young man with short bright hair and a naval uniform representing his ranking as an Imperial Lieutenant, 2nd blade. Even Delophane could recognize this though her vision was blurred. The uniforms of junior officers always possessed schemes of dark blue that covered most of their attires; only the left arm featured an armlet badge of the red and yellow stripes of Taiid pride.

He held a strange metallic large object that she could not distinguish however...

"Excuse me, but this is the _**sick bay**_. Even with your ranking, this is a medical bay and you will respect my authority. Privacy goes above all", the apparent medical doctor firmly announced.

"I am here on behalf of the _Kaiigun Shoheii_ himself...", the young Lieutenant explained, "Even with your medical authority, I have **my orders** as they come from very own _Captain of the Fleet and this vessel_ himself. My honor and life would be at stake if I were not to fulfill them."

"As if the Shoheii would assassinate desperately-needed personnel", the doctor swiftly noted, "This fleet is not alike any other of those led by madmen, lieutenant."

"C-Captain of the Fleet? Sick bay?", she wondered, "What are you all talking about? I... I must know more about _Galis 12_? Or my unit! The 32nd - or the 41st!"

"I... I do not know, but please calm yourself. You must remain calm. We received a major influx of casualties over the last hours. I have not even had the chance to verify details", The man who was apparently a medical doctor looked back at her, "I still do not understand what this _Galis 12_ is... but I can tell you that you are -"

"Allow me, doctor", the young lieutenant interrupted, "I think there is a bit of confusion. After all, _she did take quite a hit_."

"Confusion? Seriously?", the doctor scoffed, "I think you need to give **me** an explanation first as to why this poor patient had rushed out the first time from here - only to return **with a notable concussion**! You were supposed to keep an eye on her."

The 2nd Lieutenant paused for a moment before answering, "I could do nothing about it, she... _asked for it_. Metaphorically..."

"I think you should just explain to us just **what** actually had happened over this time. Just hours ago, this sickbay as well as the rest throughout this vessel and those throughout this Tenreii were being swarmed by casualty arrivals", the doctor added whilst crossing his arms.

Delophane began to understand that she was indeed no longer in danger. According to her surroundings, she really was at a sickbay. The area was not all too spacious yet featured various structures to maintain resting people. Patients and other unknown faces rested upon medical beds as medical associates maintained their duties.

She took a deep breath. The air was notably different regardless of the well-recognizable medical scent. Unlike the air she had breathed for almost a year or longer before, this one was clearer though one could easily notice _that specific smell of plastic_...

Indeed... She was truly upon a vessel.

"T-Tenreii?", Delophane repeated from the bed whilst raising her torso, "Th... This is a ship? It is not a corvette..."

"No... not a corvette. Haven't you noticed - *Sigh* Ah - You took quite a hit, so it shouldn't be surprising that you have forgotten what had recently happened. Yes, you are within the Tenreii. This is a Scout Carrier - In safety, _for now_. Vamaii, we are onboard the _Sadj-Nalkoor_; 2nd Forward Guardship of the 143rd Tenreii _Len'Tiirva Taiid_"

, the Lieutenant suddenly replied,

"Hmm... I see now that you really took quite a hit from that _blow_. But to be brief about the general situation: You arrived with the massive emergence of corvettes and flotilla vessels that had retreated from the _Aksaii Vay_ Mothership. You were amongst the casualties reported. We still have a large amount of ships still requiring our assistance as their pilots have been knocked out during the transition through hyperspace. It was very, very long flight, Vamaii'Ri. It took almost 16 hours, non-stop."

"S-Sixteen?!", the doctor suddenly shot out, "Sixteen? No wonder the pilots were knocked out! You know very well that the hyperspace radiation is excruciating over -"

The lieutenant raised hand and nodded, knowing exactly what the doctor meant, "Yes. But in terms of the operation and the sake of the people, it was imperative not to linger by standard sequential stops that would lengthen the entire undertaking by days, if not weeks - and of course raising the chance of losing various flotilla groups on the way and even being intercepted immensely. Our astrogators had calculated the perfect route through hyperspace to this Tenreii. Doctor, I assure you that this non-stop flight was extremely necessary for the survival of our Tenreiis. I am well aware of the unfortunate losses that have occurred.

"

Delophane rubbed her peachy cheek. She could feel how it still pulsed with pain. To a point, it felt even more painful than the strange injury she had upon her stomach. Yet, regarding her memory, there was indeed a hole between what had happened before and now. The injured Taiidan however had yet to grasp reality as her expressions clearly revealed confusion.

The young officer looked upon the young woman, "Considering your cheek, you... were quite - how should I say it - _disobedient_ at bridge command. It was regarding your new orders of our dear leader and plans regarding our future. You had reported directly to him although you were still to be treated at this sickbay. Aside to your frequent protests, you apparently crossed the line when you referred to your master and commander... _inappropriately_. Your indulgence brought you here once again."

The dazed Delophane still rubbed her cheek, likely confused and lost. One could easily figure that there was still a big hole in her memory.

"Considering the concussion I recently diagnosed when she was brought here again, I have no doubt now why this poor young lady is suffering a possible acute amnesia. Good gracious... She had already suffered more than enough physical traumas - and now this..."

, the doctor sighed,

"And that was not the only thing she suffered. For the sake of that we are fighting for, when will the Tenreii leaders finally stop sacrificing the lives of soldiers like this? Even if she and many others are Jotoheiis of the Tenreii... I thought we were not to be like the other Atenreiis out there slaughtering each other by the mindless masses of cannon fodder. If this Tenreii is still sending young soldiers out on useless missions, then I might as well turn back to the previous one I was part of. At least they assured some sense of humanity... for what it was worth..."

"Careful, doctor. I do not need to -", the Lieutenant lightly warned but was interrupted.

"- No, you listen carefully, young blood... And even if it were the Captain of the Fleet himself wanting to execute me for whatsoever - I bid good luck to you attempting to find an able medical doctor as I am. I'm sure he will dispatch YOU as the lead officer for the search operation regarding a new medical doctor with an expertise in the biomedical field... and trust me - There are none throughout this Tenreii regarding **my** surgical expertise, either. Good luck with abducting one from Atenreiis or retrieving one from the Mothership..."

The lieutenant was about to answer back when his mind actually figured that there were was some truth in the words of this man.

"We will leave it... as it is, right there. There will be enough time to explain what had actually happened to the Jotoheii after her first sick bay treatment... However... I have orders to fulfill, doctor, and they are to be fulfilled as ordered by the superior officer"

, the lieutenant moved closer to them and placed the strange suitcase object upon the fixed table and opened it,

"In fact. It seems we must correct ourselves, for we are no longer talking to a _simple Jotoheii, _Ina'Rh. Delophane Vamaii, please raise yourself..."

The doctor, also known by the Taiid tongue as Ina'Rh, seemed as much as confused as his medical associates and the very patient herself who did not understand anything at all. Delophane urged her body to move up, fighting to keep her torso straight as she still sat upon the bed. The other two associates removed the infusion cables from her wrist, allowing her more freedom.

"No. I mean: _Standing_."

Now she was more confused than ever. Having no other choice, the puzzled Taiidan urged herself once more to place her bare feet upon the cold floor. The cool air immediately enveloped her body as it cut through the thin fabrics her patient's attire that was no more than a white-greenish gown and accessible spots on the sides. The two associates came to her aid and supported her rather weary stance. Regarding her balancing sense, the entire room was slanted and awkward. Finally she raised her head.

The lieutenant straightened his stance before suddenly announcing:

"Delophane Asalella Vamaii'Ri, currently Jotoheii of the disbanded 32nd and currently serving guard to the 41st rifle detachment - I am hereby ordered the following: To disband you from the service of the 41st Rifles and any further duties related to any of the army detachments and the Tenreii's marine guard. You are no longer part of the military ground forces."

"Wh-What?!" , she said with utter shock in her voice.

"Private... I have the feeling that was not all", the Ina'Rh added.

Perhaps this was the consequence for _whatever_ she had done recently at the bridge. Unfortunately, her mind could not recall what had happened before she landed at this sickbay again..

The lieutenant cleared his voice, "Delophane Vamaii. As due the leadership and the honorable Bloodkeii and Tenreii serving the Shadow of our everlasting Emperor, and as my role and duty as the designated officer for this moment: I am to apply the field commission and promotion to the exceptional rank of a _Leiitnant Taiheii'Ra-E'To_, **Lieutenant Captain, Who Words**; and you are act as the sole leader of a new expeditionary unit to be dispatched to our allied flotillas."

"Pr-**Promotion** - B-But that's a **diplomatic** rank -**?!**"

The lieutenant simply continued, ignoring the young woman's reactions,

"I am sorry that this promotion is not honored by the _traditional ceremony_ as you deserve it, Vamaii'Ri. However, _hasted_ field commissions like these are **very common** these days. We have had several commanders removed from duty over the last weeks. _Forcefully_."

The young and weary woman shook her head,

"This must be a mista- I mean... W-Wait. This is a diplomatic rank? That is nonsense - I know the ranks well enough to know that diplomatic ranking like such **cannot** be in command of any military unit! I am a soldier! I have served - Emperor's eyes, I have been on the field longer than you who is a mere 2nd Lieutenant! I could care less what you have done to reach such a rank without moving a finger. But I must deny this, this... promotion! There are still people out there who - who- I... I feel like I had said this before... but-"

Delophane suddenly stammered for a brief moment. The young lieutenant figured that she was slowly remembering again.

"I guess that Ziiebi saying 'Deja Vu' is what you are expressing right now. It is not surprising. Yes, you have said something like that before"

, the junior officer straightened his stance once more,

"However - Yes, that ranking is a diplomatic one... but who ever said I was done:

Delophane Asallela Vamaii'Ri - I am to apply you another field commission as ordered by Tenreii Command. You are to be promoted as well to the special ranking of Taiheii Leiitnant, **Captain Lieutenant**, as well... I congratulate you for you are now not only a diplomatic officer but also a military commissioned officer with all given privileges and honors. And thus..."

The 2nd Lieutenant suddenly formed a fist and committedly knocked it against his left shoulder, followed by bow of his head as the honorable gesture of salute. Seconds of silence went by until he raised his head and lastly gestured the well-known salute featured by an angled straight hand just before his forehead.

"I am proud to have fulfilled this field commission as ordered and am pleased to be one of the first to witness a non-commissioned officer rise so swiftly - even if today's devastatingly-immense casualty list calls for such... Even so, Lieutenant, I am pleased that your bloodkeii will be the rising star to serve our flotilla and his shadow.

Although you are a lieutenant, you are of a unique rank and command."

Finally, Delophane was given the chance to sit upon the bed. She trembled slightly; her reaction having little to do with the cool air that surrounded her.

The others watched him raise the unusual military suitcase. The frame was authentically designed with the aesthetics of military pride and art; indeed quite unusual to see such mixed together.

"Ma'am. This object here was dispatched by the _Captain of the Tenreii_ himself. I lack the knowledge of its actual aspects but I do know it is a uniform. A military one - one that is durable for heavy duty. This is coming from his private assets and has a notable prolonged development history. From what I know, the Captain has allocated a tremendous amount of Tenreii resources and his power in research and developments to produce this. Lastly, I only heard that it was previously to be used for expeditionary colonization efforts on planets and sustainable moons.

It is imperative that the doctor examines it before you apply it to your body as it possesses specific biometric features that must be aligned.

Ah yes, I almost forgot... Galis 12 as you call it has fallen, but will always be remembered as an honorable stronghold and haven deep within the heart of the mothership amidst dark times. Do not worry... Our Tenreiis are on the path to a brighter future. I am assured of this, and so can you."

, the young junior officer explained as he held the suitcase horizontally upon his forearms,

"Lieutenant Captain, inside this casing is your uniform and rank insignia. It is to be alike the blessing touch of our Emperor. You are to never remove it while in active duty. Even for you being a former Jotoheii-Private, I do not need to explain how much important the uniform and code is to the Taiid bloodkeii. Once you put it on, it is likely that you are to stay with it until then...

You know that...

Ma'am."

Moments once again went by until she nodded. Indeed, Delophane knew this. The young junior officer knew this as well. Just about any youngbloods who were trained within the academies onboard massive carriers were literally pummeled by the code - Their souls to remained eternally brand-marked by the Taiidan Emperor's will... and she knew this all too well...

"I am done here"

, the junior officer finally said and loosened his stance,

"Congratulations, ma'am."

Nobody really knew what to say...

"Ma'am. I must say though that you have a very daunting task before you. I am not allowed to share any details just yet - and even I do not really know any real details -, but I have the feeling that it is imperative that I tell you that... _You are on your own from here on_"

, he said; his voice hinting that even he was concerned,

"There are big things happening throughout this dreaded nebula. Really big things. We may be standing before the actual revolution... within this ongoing _decadent revolution_. The powers of all Tenreiis and flotillas throughout this _Cursed-Nebula_ are under severe tensions as we speak. We have hopes of even eluding this dreaded nebula itself - once and for all. We may be in trouble already without even knowing it. We do have a small advantage - say, having one step ahead of all other... but we do not know for how long.

Nevertheless, I am done.

Again - Congratulations, Captain Lieutenant and Lieutenant Captain Vamaii."

He saluted once more.

A long pause passed by. One could feel a notable tremor sweeping through the floor; likewise caused by a massive vessel docking within this immense carrier vessel.

"I... I am not sure if I should be congratulating you, too, Vamaii"

, the doctor suddenly began,

"But... I congratulate you as well. Trust me - I am just as confused as you are."

Indeed. She was.

"Before I say anything further, I need to tell you about your diagnosis prior to your... _confrontation_... with the Tenreii Captain. Are you - ?"

Delophane shortly nodded, agreeing that it was all right to share her medical information while an outsider was at earshot range.

"Very well. But please lay down, I need you to recover. You sustained some serious trauma actually. According to the reports, Vamaii... **You were shot down**. There was apparently an Atenreii adversary who was thought to have been neutralized. He was severely injured yet used his last breath to aim at you specifically. He pulled the trigger before others responded with a... not so pleasant result."

As Delophane rested upon the medical bed, the doctor covered her with the blanket before padding the specific spot he was referred to.

"You took a round to the vest. Thank goodness these vests are so effective against conventional slugs... but the actual people who wear these vests and armor are not invulnerable. The round has caused a nasty blunt trauma on the right side of your abdomen - One that has even caused minor ruptures as easily detectable by the purple bruise upon that spot.

I am pleased to say though that first aid was applied to you by professionals and were able to keep you stabilized until you were brought here. However, according to the immense psychical stress and psychological terrors all of you must have suffered, your body could no longer handle this and simply... shutdown for the sake of your life. The pain must have been... **excruciating**.

Although the men who treated you were professionals, your body was extremely pumped by combat medicines... some of which of compositions I have not even biologically decoded yet. You are alive, but your body was on the verge of giving up. We have managed to remove most of it but there are certainly... _residues_.

Luckily, we have treated the injury with our specialized medical therapies - mostly biotech our forces recently had obtained from a once neutral flotilla that had joined the cause of this Tenreii. As said long ago, we have just removed the last traces of this specific infusion. But do note that this only treated most of the physically injuries... It is the psychological pain that will remain thereafter. I must say that this is where my expertise ends, Vamaii'Ri. But do not worry, I am here to ensure that you will rest until both body and soul are fully recovered.

I guarantee you this.

On top of all of this, I was told that you and thousands of others had then engaged a desperate retreat to a designated bay, where you and thousands of military and civilian personnel were evacuated. Obviously, you were stuffed like wild cattle with various other people onboard transport corvettes. I must assume that you all had to make a very desperate escape. It is unfortunate however that I do not know where the rest of your unit - I mean, your former units, are.

Some might be recovering - or not - but I can assure you that it is quite a mess both out there and onboard. The massive influx of people has by far surpassed our capacities - While we have space, it is obvious that the protocols will require us to invest a lot of time solely in ensuring that we did not just invite atenreii saboteurs and spies onboard."

The young Taiidan woman wondered what _cattle_ actually was.

"I do not know much about these things, but I know about the effects one suffers if the specific craft is not well protected from the hyperspace fabrics. You and many, many others were exposed to the hyperspace radiation which further strained your body.

Even the pilots were knocked out of commission and from what I know; we still have various frigates and corvettes still floating straight ahead as they had entered hyperspace while they were at full speeds. But this is common and I am sure the Tenreii is retrieving them.

Whatever may be, it is clear that your body has been greatly affected by the strains of hyperspace. I am sure it is quite unpleasant just resting upon the bed. Recovery is all that I can order you, Vamaii. The system needs to deal with this - and it needs time and rest. Even if you are soldier, you are still a mortal like the rest of us.

Now... enough of these talks and endless paraphrases...

It is tiring just having talking heads all this time through.

Let's give her the rest she deserves, ladies and gentlemen. Too much had happened and we have a lot more people requiring our utmost attention. As for now, I am yet pleased to say that Vamaii is on the path of recovery, but she will need days, if not weeks.

Get some sleep, Vamaii. I will make sure you get the rest you deserve - with no intervention by higher-ups until I am certain you are able to stand on your feet."

"That would be my call to return to bridge command. I must report to the Captain to notify my mission was completed."

"Why don't you just contact him directly with the intercom or your personal communicator", the Ina'rh wondered.

"I... uh... forgot it at a private stash just at my designated station. Please do not notify him this. I think it is imperative that I make my way there immediately."

"Better hurry... I heard he has a new influx of junior officers just ready for taking over your slot the moment you make a mistake."

The lieutenant suddenly frowned, soon to noticed that this just a mere ruse.

The doctor chuckled for a moment, "Youngsters these days... You have no sense of humor. Go now."

The injured Taiidan bid the junior officer farewell, followed by the doctor and his associates who soon left her alone.

Her view spun until it fell upon the ceiling; her head well caught by the soft pillow behind. Delophane stared upon this ceiling for moments and moments to come.

Everything had evolved so quickly just by the blink of an eye. All of this was happening simply too fast for her consciousness to comprehend. Apparently, almost a day had passed by just by the hyperspace transit alone and yet the confused Taiidan still felt the pure terror slipping upon her skin. Until now, it was clear to here that she had expressed nightmares during her unconscious phase. The pictures were surreal and colorful. Twisted flesh of people she cared for haunted her mind; unable to distinguish if this truly had happened or if this was simply a terrifying phantasm.

Delophane could still sense the agitation and fear embracing her body. Regardless of the medications flowing through her body that promised serenity, she could feel the mere presence of still being chased and hunted by the _Virulency_ and deadly atenreii forces.

She raised her numb right hand; the fingers spread wide out by the palm towards the ceiling. Was it her hand? It felt so strange and foreign, but seemingly followed her will like a slave. Until now, she noticed vivid colors that swept across her vision - not knowing whether this was still part of the phantasm or reality. Her hand slowly fell upon her face.

_Riimus... No..._

Some of the lost memories shot through her mind...

Unspeakable memories...

Single shreds of a recent past revealed hordes of frantic people rushing into a vast field full of crafts and frigate vessels. Whatever had brought her to this dreaded place, it was nothing that could even be called planned.

But nothing was more shocking to her than the explosion of various corvettes as the waves endured a drastic escape through the labyrinth leading to outer space. Once having left the Mothership's realm, the entire flock was encountered by single Atenreii vessels mindlessly shooting upon civilian crafts. There was no plausible reason yet these Atenreii simply fired upon what they could... unfortunately blasting the corvette of the poor boy, Riimus Altepoor.

She had vowed to her herself to protect him... but he was killed by the grasp of twisted madness.

The Taiidan woman suddenly forced her body upwards. Whatever had caused this impulse was eager to push her ahead. She felt besides herself, watching her body throw away the rest of the comfy blanket that covered her legs. Just as Delophane's feet touched the cold floor, she immediately sunk to her knees as these weary stilts could not carry her weight just yet.

But whatever was urging her to move, it was not going to give up that easily.

Not much later, one of the medical associates walked past several filled medical beds until he noticed that the one at the farthest end was empty. The man assumed one of the patients had been carried over to another area for a diagnosis or personal matters.

"Huh -?!"

The young man and two other people were surprised by the arms that just barely managed to whip themselves between the elevator's doors, forcing them to reopen again. What was first thought to be tentacles was only the mere pale arms of -

"V-Vamaii, wh-what are you -?", the surprised junior officer wondered, "What are you doing here? You should be at the sickbay recovering!"

The wandering patient leaned against one of the retracted doors; using the frame to catch her weary balance. She looked over at the two others who stood within the elevator just next to the young lieutenant she followed. Her beady eyes stared upon technicians; a young man and a woman who were shocked and said nothing.

Clearly, they could see that she was exhausted. The junior officer could easily figure that she must have hasted right after him - though surprisingly without him noticing her wandering just behind his shadow. He figured he was too distracted, worrying and hoping that the Captain of the Fleet had not noticed his forgetfulness.

Delophane gasped twice and then dropped her head for a moment until she urged her body forward. Her slacking movements were like that of an infected victim one had certainly seen throughout footages and recent 'visual entertainment movies' produced by creative civilians throughout the Tenreiis. She moaned once until her slow bare feet came to a halt, lastly turning around and slumping down by the back against the wall to the cold floor. Her left hand clutched the side of her stomach.

One of the technicians grabbed his communicator, but the junior officer raised his hand, "No... No... It is all right. I think... But hold the elevator, please", the young man said to them and looked down upon the young woman.

Delophane Vamaii...

She was a young soldier just barely above the age of 22 Taiigaran cycles; despite what the natural galactic date would take in account for a mere century of cryogenic sleep. It was not unusual to see many woman of her age serving just like the many young men throughout the Tenreiis and this dreaded _cursed_ nebula.

Her short, straight and chestnut brown hair was quite rare throughout the known Taiidan population and she was a tad smaller than the average. It was impossible to assume anything related to a specific hairstyle as anyone could figure she had gone through hells - and survived. Certainly, she was quite attractive despite the lack of what would initially catch men's attention. Not even the thin fabrics of a patient's attire could reveal more than that of a rather small bust. Nevertheless, nobody throughout _Curse_ was picky.

The young lieutenant shook his head.

"You were heading for bridge command", Delophane stammered with deep breaths, "I am heading there, too. You will help me go there."

"What? No - and certainly not like this. I am bringing you back to the sickbay, Vamaii'Re. The last thing anybody needs is you dying due to indulgence. If something were to happen, I would take more just blame."

The Taiidan woman suddenly grabbed the fabric of his sleeve when he kneeled down to force her up and out of the elevator. It was a tight grip that forced him to stop for this decisive moment.

"I think you are missing something... I do not need to repeat myself, _Lieutenant_...", the seated Taiidan said and dropped her head for a moment.

"I don't know what you're talking about, _Jotoheii_, but -", he suddenly paused.

Delophane raised her head, "You should have promoted me after my release from the medical bay, Lieutenant."

The other two technicians had no clue what was going on, but understood from the lieutenant's gesture this weary yet determined woman was here to stay - joining them on their journey downwards to the main deck. Soon after, the pressure doors closed and the unit began slow ride downwards.

The young man shook his head and lifted himself, "*Sigh* Well, Captain Lieutenant... Thirty decks should be enough for you to recover some of your strength. You are surely going to need it... I don't know why you are doing this, Vamaii'Re... This is not a good idea... This is a deathwish. The Captain has punished you already once for your doings - I fear he will be more than insulted for you to confront him again, let alone without a uniform. H-However... I will simply follow your orders. "

He watched the young devastated woman sit upon the floor whilst quietly rubbing her swollen cheek. Anybody within this lift could sense that she and thousands others who returned had gone through agonizing terrors. The palms of the Taiidan woman soon covered her face, barely hinting what memories were plaguing her even now.

The lift stopped at three separate decks with the lieutenant frequently repeating himself to others to take the next one. Luckily, fortune was on his side as no other commissioned officer needed this specific elevator though one was distracted by his subordinates.

Once closing in on the specific deck, he looked down upon the exhausted woman. Delophane held her breath for split second the moment she spotted his hand before her. She looked up.

"We... might as well go through this together, Vamaii'Re..."

= _Sadj-Nalkoor_ - Imperial Taiidan Scout Carrier, Main Deck =

The two technicians had already exited the lift as the lieutenant heaved the young woman by wrapping her arm over his shoulder. She quietly lifted her head while the two engaged a pace forward...

Step by step...

Before her was the entrance to an extremely wide-ringed corridor she instantly recalled the moment her eyes fell upon the specific guards. This wide arcing passage happened to be the key access point to bridge command. The smell of _plastics_ never seized. It was everywhere. Various bypassing officers and operators noticed the lieutenant and the young woman in patient's attire making their slow movements forward. People slowed down when they noticed this most unusual sighting.

Delophane recognized various sentries in specialized suits - deadly... yet elegant. One could sense the honor and pride of Taiid of these men guarding the specific gateway to the sophisticated bridge command center. Surprisingly to her, the helpful lieutenant and many others, these honor guards did not hinder them.

... I... I hope you know what you are doing, Vamaii'Re...

But Delophane's mind was elsewhere. Each step recalled single images - memories of which that revealed she had been here before on an earlier occasion.

The two stopped.

Delophane and the lieutenant paused whilst looking amidst the vast surroundings.

The bridge command center was immense yet narrow at the same time, and while it was not the first time for these two to be here, one could easily sense that each visit was a breathtaking sensation. Clearly, one could easily imagine what such a vessel needed to offer as a specific fleet command ship. Various patches of operators dealt with both internal and external affairs of the renowned _Scout Carrier_.

As normal light was always something that could disturb the eyes over a given period, schemes of red and deep orange light was always accompanied with darkness and shadows.

The two could also sense a faint electrifying static slowly creeping on their skins. Ironically, one could recognize these feeling alike the slithering of the small _snails and slugs_ that dwelled any of the biospheres and hydroponic areas. The electrifying sensation was extremely faint and yet every fiber of one's body could sense it. Various relays periodically infused power through the grid of this entire deck. The sounds were mystifying like deep bells of the scare religious shrines found throughout the designated civilian areas of this vessel.

The bridge command center was predominantly of a cylindrical structure; a staggering column whose center was vast and wide enough for the imperative stations as well as tight enough to support an abundance of secondary and tertiary sections. Even now, this bridge was thriving with voices and well-timed announcements.

The outer subdecks and platforms were of iconic Taiidan designs. Every subdeck was struck by monumental curves shaping faces and symbols of the Emperor's lineage; striking shadows down upon one as a silent reminder of His Shadow. One could see the harmony between the understanding of physical architecture and aesthetical design.

At the center of this area, one could easily spot not one but several golden holographic bubbles representing the current status of sensorial data and deep space astrometry. Officers and other key figures circled most of these stations that dealt with the primary functions of the large Scout Carrier. Single commands and plans were forged and sourced from this open area to the rest of the synapses.

_The Taiid sigils..._

The symbols of Taiid were everywhere at key locations. They were alike subtle reminders to every living synapse... alike eyes silently watching, haunting, each and every movement of the faithful men and women below serving _His Empire_, Emperor Riesstiu IV...

_His Empire... _

_Or whatever was left of the shattered Empire..._

_No!_

This _body of thought_ was preposterous and dangerous to Taiidan souls that dwelled within this Tenreii and others. Considering the High Command and leaders of this fragile Tenreii conglomerate, the Emperor was to be believed to be alive - **No, the Emperor is alive**, **here and now, amidst them even now at this very moment**. To serve amidst _His Distant Shadow_ was and still is the pledge and privilege of every Taiidan soul - no matter the endless spans of light years that lie between them. However, outsiders or such who were never true followers never would or could understand this mere love for _this_ Emperor, a mere fourth clone, whose acts had always been far beyond the questionable.

The Taiidan Empire was an extremely vast nation that spanned around the heart of the galaxy. After the historical war and the success over the Hiigaran enemy and their banishment from the fertile blue planet, Hiigara - now known as Taiigara -, the Taiidan Emperor had become obsessed by the will that the empire would only persevere if it would span its reach to the outer unknown fringes of the galaxy; especially towards the truly enigmatic reaches illogically deemed as the _Eastern Fringes_.

Various assimilated cultures and bloodlines had become part of this undertaking that had been sanctioned by the _first and original_ Emperor himself. To seed the Imperial Taiidan ideology and bloodline was a matter of utter importance to him. It was so imperative to the Emperor that all resources and willpower was solely focused on this task... even forcing him to develop the extremely sensitive biotechnology of cloning so his reign would never seize.

His empire had constructed three titanic Motherships; of which two that were to be primarily focused on the mission of colonizing the _Eastern Fringes_, both utilizing the latest prototypes of the so-called _Singularity Cores_.

_Cursed..._

Ever since the prime Mothership lost contact with the second one that was now ruled to be lost and forgotten forever, the entire vast colonial armada had undergone a progressive decay as each day passed by. It was also then, when the prime armada confronted a sole Bentusi scout vessel, sharing the possible reality that the Taiidan Emperor and his will was no more... let alone that the Empire itself was now apparently shattered by a vast civil war between fading imperial loyalists and so-called Taiidans of the New Republic.

This revelation proved to be the final thrust into the heart and soul of the once unshakable Imperial Taiid spirit, twisting the very minds within the armada's leadership. When the Bentusi vessel barely survived their aggressions and when the vast armadas and its sole mothership had ultimately become lost within the endless _cursed nebula_, it was then when new ideologies began to emerge...

_Dangerous ideologies..._

The armadas long after became a shattered mess of lost flotillas and Tenreiis desperately trying to survive the frequent horrors of treachery, madness and greed. With already decades building the foundation of a century lost in the dreaded labyrinth of stellar dust and gas, longevity serums were only one of thousands of commodities that had become a mere obsession, let alone the necessities for the survival in this deep yet dense space.

However, this Tenreii was one of the few whose spirit remained strong to whatever could be left of the Taiidan Empire, but more importantly... sanity. But with each passing month, life had become bleak. It was only now that this Tenreii had forged a fragile conglomerate with others to raise hopes for a brighter future.

Apparently, the first stage of a grand and secret operation was completed but still left the many who were never sworn in to the undertaking in the dark about what was the next phase...

Or when...

Various nearby operators began to silence when they spotted the two figures continuing a slow pace from one of the many access points towards the center; predominantly astonished by the looks of this young woman who had actually been here before.

Some of these people began to whisper towards each other, all of them certainly gossiping about this strange young woman despite what had happen before had returned. Some of them noticed that she was not only nowhere near the obvious military dress code but also barefoot and partially naked. Her patient's attire offered much skin upon the sides - most inappropriate to any officer witnessing this blasphemous approach.

Whatever this was about, it was about to become serious - especially when the sighting spread to the officers standing throughout the central region. Their frowning faces were only the foreboding sign of trouble...

However, they did not act as their attention was shortly led upon a specific figure.

Reaching the rim to the open sections of the command center, Delophane gently urged herself away from the helpful lieutenant.

"I must do this alone... At least stand by own feet. Th-Thank you... Lieutenant - By what name do you serve by?"

The young man raised his head, "N-Never mind my name, ma'am. Are you sure about this?"

She paused - Her sight shortly falling towards the floor before him before she turned away.

"I will still follow you however."

The injured Taiidan did not answer back and soon began an awkward pace towards the center, heading straight for a specific figure amidst the group of high ranking officers.

Armed soldiers in advanced battle suits moved aside as they saw the limping patient making her slow way towards the specific area. One of them even insisted to support her, but she silently shook her head, insisting that they focus on the ongoing briefing. Truly, her presence and appearance was more than a distraction. It was almost a farce in the many eyes of officers. However, they left her alone.

The injured Taiidan looked around her as she continued her approach. By now, she had actually entered the golden spheres of holographic photons. Dots, symbols and various other images were visibly spread across the entire surroundings; live imagery of countless massive vessels, sub-capitals and myriads of crafts.

This Tenreii was obviously massive in numbers; easily revealing how mind-bogging it was to just imagine that this density of vessels alone were actually a mere fraction of what the entire colonial armada was of. Despite these massive numbers, just about any tenreii was as vulnerable as an open wound. No matter how powerful or how large single vessels were, any strategic assault just by knowing the strengths and weaknesses of one's tenreii composition could mean death - and surrenders are rarely taking seriously this day and age within _Curse_.

However, while all of the sensorial inputs were live feeds of data, one could easily sense that much of the data itself was filtered, representing only mediocre positions rather than accurate coordinates. Even proximal ships bounced and fuzzed on a very small spot.

Delophane stopped and gazed at this _holographic dome_ that surrounded her...

This young and injured individual had no clue about the specifics, but little knowledge from what friends and naval petty officers shared about astronomic-navigation, or _astrogation_ by the technical slang. The compass that was once always aligned to the Galactic Core had been re-aligned to what appeared to be the heat of this cursed expanse. It was indeed a vast star system, if not, a massive cluster that actually had sub-stars - yet from what the others had rumored, it was impossible to figure truthful details.

Like all vessels of the shattered Taiid armada, hyperspace jumps were dangerous and difficult to calculate regarding the unknown territories to explore. Known routes were like trusted passages, but likewise dangerous as the enemy fleets, the general term coined to all adversarial naval forces as _Atenreiis, _had developed ways to intercept each other. Thus, sharing astrogational data with other tenreiis was extremely dangerous - leaving each and every one of them in the dark. Any diplomatic handshake was always threatened by the knives held behind the backs.

This was not the only reason for unusual bounces of ships' positions upon the holographic spheres. _Curse_, this labyrinthine nebula itselfm was like a hall of deformed mirrors, distorting anything physical venturing through its material world. A unique radio signal would be shot out, only to return with mutated clones of its former self. It was not uncommon to suddenly see a specific vessel suddenly appear from twelve different arcs on various distances and then to vanish to all but one. Luckily, the sophisticated computers had been adjusted to filter the best possible signals as well as to stop the annoying amount of audible pings emitting from these illusions.

But foremost, the actual range of scans were limited. Detecting activity was not all too difficult, but clearly this region, no matter how vast it was, had distorting emission fields generated by the clouds alone.

Delophane awoke from her thoughtful pause when a friendly hyperspace signature was announced. A holographic ping signaled the location as well as the event of the energetic two-dimensional plane expanding, and then slowly slipping by as it materialized a large vessel and three sub-capital hips.

She froze when her eyes fell upon the specific center of the bridge and the persona standing amidst officers, operator pools and mainframes.

"Kaiigun Shoheii", a young man's voice announced, "An unknown freighter-class vessel has emerged alongside the frigates. Receiving IFF and status coding... Confirmed as Taskforce 91-Echo-Alpha-Haas... Status: green... Taskforce 91-EAH has confronted no hostilities and has fulfilled its designated mission...

One moment... Dispatched code reveals that the unknown ship is a civilian freighter, '_The Viirn-Teor'. _Scout Frigate 'Akis-Cho'ahn' confirms various cartographic scans as well. Taskforce leader greets his shadow's guard and dispatched docking request as well as the standard protocol regarding foreign vessels."

"I suppose the taskforce stumbled upon a stranded civilian freighter, Shoheii... I will handle this task, my captain.", one of the officers besides the supreme officer responded, "Very well. Confirm docking request at once for the taskforce units. This taskforce has been on a cartographical mission for almost five weeks straight. Personally, I thought we lost them - as you know, we are to relocate within the next few days...

Nahmheii, have one of our Tenreii ships perform a deep scan on this civilian vessel. I also want two marine platoons along with an available to be dispatched and retrieve the crew. Protocol."

"Aye. Dispatching orders. Protocol underway."

The officer soon recognized the underdressed female standing at the rim of the center; the man silently gestured at the specific leader that this would require his attention. He turned around.

Delophane held her breath as she stared upon him. The man was no other than the _Kaiigun Shoheii_, Captain of the Fleet. The Captain wore an officer's peaked cap as well as a sophisticated uniform. The uniform comprised of elegant epaulettes, braided cords stretched across from shoulder to shoulder, the iconic red and gold designs of Taiid pride, as well as a short cape that covered the side of his arms as well as his back.

The injured Taiidan sensed a warm sensation within her stomach for a very brief moment their eyes crossed paths; her mind recalling only one moment of happiness decades ago within a heartbeat.

"You...", the Captain suddenly said, but paused as he was likely just as disturbed by the sighting as much as any other throughout the command center.

Delophane remained petrified, until somebody suddenly rushed her side.

It was the young lieutenant who nervously saluted at the supreme officer, "Shoheii - I have fulfilled your orders and p-performed both field commissions as ordered. Though against my approval, th-the _Leiitnant Taiheii'Ra-E'To _has deeply insisted to come to you in person... again... to reveal gratitude, that your choice was not in van, as well as..."

, the young man paused; noticeable by the young woman that he was improvising on the mark,

"... as well as to **immediately dispatch to your mission as you had demanded**. She wishes to neither insult your honor nor that of His Shadow by her lack of uniform - but she wished to reveal that her health is of no matter as to the mission you have assigned her upon. For her, even the bare skin is a uniform, as the _Book of Taiid- I mean, Riesstiu _says...

But foremost, sh-she also... wishes to apologize for her _indulgence_ from before; yet, as confirmed by the doctor, her _indulgence_ has caused her to lose some of her memory - thus imploring you to restate her mission once more before dispatching. Both she and I are well aware of this seemingly nonsensical, but it is a requirement. Sir."

_Dispatch - M-Mission?!, she thought._

Apparently, the hole in her mind was a lot greater than she previously thought. Delophane understood that there was a mission waiting for her, but it was now clear that the Captain had no intention of letting her recover for even just one day. On the contrary...

"Is this true... Lieutenant Captain?"

Delophane could feel how tension was building from the gut upwards as she stared upon the Captain. The warm feeling of that one memory had long vanished, leaving her nothing but fear as she gazed upon the man _who so distant_. Ever since she had reached this area, she had not noticed that her body was already sweating by a nervous dread. Slowly but surely, her mind was recalling pieces of shattered memories regarding her previous confrontation with this... _dreadful_ man.

_Indulgence..._

The word that had been repeated many times, yet nobody ever explained why they called this upon her. There was the statement about an act of indulgence she had performed here before. But even as the past memory was slowly encroaching upon her present mind, she also felt how a vivid spirit was slowly returning... a boiling emotion that was just as stubborn as the majestic man far before her.

The young barelegged Taiidan woman instinctively raised a firm right hand to the side of her forehead, "Yes, Kaiigun Shoheii... I-I am here to... report in, once more... and to apologize for my previous indulgence. Please, Captain, I can only repeat what this young lieutenant explained."

Her cheek suddenly ached more as the man approached her. He was almost a head taller than her and considerably older. His skin was taut and there were faint structures of dark veins riddled upon his neck. It was common to see many pale complexions or people with dark yet notably dry skin on vessels like these.

One thing was clear; he was much, much older than his appearance. This, however also indirectly could be accounted to herself as well as the many other people, respectively.

He stopped, but well close enough for him to see deep into her soul. His face remained firm... emotionless. The massive man raised his chin slightly.

Trembles went through her body, unnoticed by anybody else but herself... but she raised her chin as well after lowering her salute.

"Do not do_ such_ ever again or I will execute your personally."

There were neither words nor metaphors to explain what actually had slithered down her spine.

The _Captain of the Fleet_ turned away from her, climbed upon the command platform again and remained standing for a while. He did not say any further word but simply looked ahead upon the distant massive screens revealing the physical surroundings of the vessel. He did nothing but stand there.

M-Ma'am. He is waiting for you to join his side, the young man besides her said.

O-Oh...

He gently grabbed her bare arm by the bicep,

Ma'am, just a word, a quick word. First off, consider him to have accept your apology, but don't ever mention any other words about it. Even more important: Under no circumstances are you to reveal anything - and I mean it, by the sake of Emperor, **under no circumstances** are you to discuss about the Galis 12 incident or any other wild ideas about such returning there - unless you are willing to risk your life.

Her eyes widened.

Captain Lieutenant, it is so that I have seen other officers question - or merely - speak openly about thoughts regarding the Tenreii's decision or that of the Captain - and who rarely got away without punishment. Things throughout our Tenreii alone have been... troublesome... these last months. We've had a large number people questioning orders of Tenreii Command. I'm sure you noticed an officer or two with missing limbs as well...

By all means and for your sake, listen, accept the mission and leave.

Delophane paused, but understood what he was trying to tell her, I guess I was... lucky. I am guessing I opposed his orders and paid a small price for it?

Maybe... Maybe. Some might be disturbed by the way he punished you, for obvious reasons. It was _different_, after all, and this may have affected his stand as a Tenreii Cap-

"Lieutenant", the majestic Captain suddenly called out, "I suggest you find _it_... **Right away**."

What does he mean? Find wha- OH!, he mumbled, but then raised his voice, "Ah-Ya-Yes, sir! Sorry, sir! I, uh, was too amazed by my task that I forgot it and - Emperor's blessing, Vamaii'Ri!"

, he ultimately said.

But just before he was about to rush away to find the communicator he forgot to at his station, the young woman tucked his sleeve for his brief attention. She did not say a word... Neither did he, but he nodded, revealing that it was merely his pleasure.

The young man jogged away while Delophane took a deep breath before approaching the side of the Kaiigun Shoheii, the Captain of the Fleet.

**- Dawn of Taiid -**

The unknown voice speaks...

Throughout the decades of terror and survival within the _cursed_ nebula, every tenreii has developed means of leadership and order over their independent fleets. Though any psyche may have the power and skills to command whole fleets alone, it is clear that the necessity for vital resources remain a serious problem. Various surviving tenreiis of today rely on remote and secretly established councils formed by the leaders of respective fleet captains and such alike. Regarding the pure means of survival, many have understood that one will only survive if one is ready to establish even the basic partnership of convenience.

Diplomacy itself and the individuals who participate have become the very lifeblood of survival as this was the only way to find sanity within this maddened, shrouded world. Establishing trade and many other things are just a mere necessity in a pool of many requirements. With the Mothership being a perilous necropolis to any living being attempting to rob its seemingly endless resources, it is now that more than ever must these vast fleets attempt to survive in this desolate and dense expanse.

Just about any commodity and person was viable. From simple manpower, to creative spirits and technological geniuses; they all had a value. However, _commodities_ always had their _price, _and people were rarely given the choice over their lives, especially when involved with tenreiis ironically promising protection. Research was just one of many fields, with most of the tenreiis focusing on military developments to achieve leverage and power over others. Industry and mining was foremost the thriving engine to support the warmachines and survival efforts; of which something that was always easily exploited via slavery.

Even so, people are easily defined by the term of _talent_. Hundreds of thousands of people are still stranded onboard the Mothership alone, with a notable portion still slumbering within their cryogenic dreams. It is unknown how many souls had even participated on this grand colonial effort only. There were far too many willing to venture to the _Eastern Fringes_ of the galaxy to discover new secrets, power, and more. Even convicted criminals were considered as viable participants... Nevertheless, the armada was extremely massive - but all were certain that the Singularity Cores were the prime key to everybody's salvation... It worked well until it slowly became a decadent piece that brought them to the world known as _Curse_.

_Curse_ remains labyrinthine and dangerous for any astrogational computer and psyche, slowly forcing more and more single ships to join the greater establishments - be it forging a new tenreii fleet or existing ones.

Clearly... as the _Book of Taiid_ - or better yet what is today known as the _Book of Riesstiu_ - states that _**Knowledge is and will always be Power**_. This specific line has burned itself into the minds of those many bloodlines stranded within the _cursed _nebula. But it is also so that from the single individual to groups and fleets - everyone has a secret or subject of vital importance to any other outsider.

However, terror and hideous psyches remain a constant threat to any tenreii. Such fulfilled with madness are easy to find and counter, but the ones that may become secret traitors are the ones truly to fear. Having a century gone by with not a single step forward to leaving this dreaded nebula, the leaders whose blood had siphoned every drop of longevity serums had developed desperate feuds and tenreii wars to conquer what could lengthen not only their lives but also any sort of technology and information to bring them out of _Curse -_ often in vain, for nothing, or worse. Thus, it is also not uncommon to stumble upon intrigues and conspiracies.

Nevertheless, every tenreii is confident as they establish conglomerates and joint ventures. There are more than enough ways to counter the possibilities of traitors, starting with the specific alignment to factions and the actions taken within. Furthermore, the _**Word of Truth**_ of the Book still remains prime and untouched; even the slightest deception found will easily hint one to cautiously remove the violator at once. Not all tenreiis are hostile to one another, though, but a great level of fear and distrust will always remain.

Even hostile tenreiis, so-called atenreiis, still have a sense of Taiid will in them. One must note however, that there are others who cannot be considered even atenreii; such to be greatly feared as one rarely wills to say the name written by The Book for such that only wreaks havoc. They are to be considered extremely dangerous and forsaken of any plausible psyche.

But amongst all that exists; tenreiis, atenreiis and the dreaded unknown havocs are not the only ones that exist - let alone military ones that have capabilities of defending themselves with lethal forces...

There are others, mostly smaller fleets or flotillas that managed to survival for years if not decades without any support or even the raiding of the haunted Mothership...

_Smaller_ ones...

_Independent_ ones...

_The voice goes silent..._

The weary, barefooted patient silently listened to the explanation of the supreme officer just besides her. Though an anomaly in this world, the surroundings began to focus more on greater matters regarding the Tenreii itself. She did not move a muscle or even look at the determined officer who spoke with a deep voice:

"Look at our Tenreii... Look carefully..."

Delophane raised her head until her eyes fell upon the illusions amidst the ochre sky. It was a massive convoy of interstellar vessels amidst gaseous formations of orange and purple. This fleet was filled with souls fighting an everyday survival. Most of the ships were already centuries old and both refugees and descendants had populated most of them.

"The **Len'Tiiva Taiid**... 143rd Tenreii of His Shadow. We are one of the few Tenreiis remaining that still stand in the name of Emperor Riesstiu IV. It is this fleet that remains a standing hope like a flame amidst darkness. And even if we have been capable of surviving for almost a century, we have always been aware that we are fighting a losing battle...

But look carefully to this fleet, regarding this day, we are about to witness a serious shift throughout the history and reaches of _Curse_. What was carefully planned almost 20 long years ago had been successfully conducted only a Taiigaran day ago. Our established Tenreii Conglomerate has attempted something so grand that no other was ever to assume was possible."

20 years... Two decades...

Delophane had only come back to life from the cryosleep only two years ago - at least that was her impression. This plan was forged and in the making long before her awakening; only being one of countless expendable pawns exploited by the leaders.

"For a century - Perhaps even longer judging time dilation principles - our people have been suffering, agonized by terrorists and lost hope never to see Taiigara... Let alone see or sail the stars of the galaxy again. For all these dreaded decades, nobody has even been able to actually see a star - Or... maybe, but they never returned or lived on to tell the tale. It remains unknown if they even survived to escape _Curse_ - as all, even atenreiis, have willed to share the exit from this expanse.

Traversing through the Vraan has become hazardous for our health. Even though capital and super capital vessels have the means to protect the crew, our hyperdrives are unable to sustain long enough - and if they do manage, they for some reason never return... Which is forcing us to rely on short jumps and alternate FTL. We have had too many loses just by experiments and foolish minds thinking they found the solution to escaping this dense expanse.

As you and everybody else know; no matter the efforts, all ships remain prisoners captured deep within this vast nebula. It is like as if we cannot release ourselves of the grasps of something so genuine and grand we cannot imagine. No matter how advanced our FTL technology may be, we remain captives of a world only the most pure of talents can understand... Such of which we do not have at our disposal...

Yet. But there may be hope. This requires us however to rely on strategies otherwise..."

_Vraan-Jet_...

The Taiid word for hyperspace and god. There were many words for hyperspace as there were considering theories of its existence as well as the faster-than-light technologies that utilized advanced physics. However, the young woman did not know much about them... only about the stories of hyperspace itself by hearsay. After all, she was only a young soldier, nothing more.

Hyperspace, or the _Vraan_, existed in many forms and yet was both pure and one at the same time. Where the physical world had its rules, the furious Vraan was so unimaginably vast as the universe itself that it had become a world of its own with exploitable rules. It was alike an ocean behind a reflection or a mirror. Vivid technologies had long been developed to cross this mirror and sail the wakes of this ocean - whether deep within or only merely skimming its surface. Regarding this, it truly mattered how ships navigated through this nebula.

Delophane understood little to nothing about astro-navigation and physics, yet was an extraordinarily good listener...

The man suddenly turned away and made a slow pace towards the edge. Surprised by his sudden distancing, the young woman rushed with limping steps to his side again, unfortunately knocking against a solid mainframe in the process. Despite this shot of pain, she bit her lip as she continued to keep aside.

"You were part of a grand operation. The Tenreii Conglomerate is pleased of the efforts of all who were involved. The true goal remains obscured, but for now, we can consider this a serious victory. This will be the ultimate death blow to the _Virulency, _for it must feed off the power. There was another **source** of troubles from what I have heard from, but such no longer matters. Talents have already discovered that this menace was dying, but now that our Tenreiis had removed the core, we will succeed over it once and for all - in this lifetime and age..."

He paused as they walked on. Delophane's mind wandered for a brief moment, causing to lose some pace. The source the man referred to must had been the poor soul, Shodanii, whose body was implanted within the spherical structure filled with the unusual liquid. However, her mind was still shattered by the terrors and all that she had suffered; let alone the sore fact of her aching cheek. But as she returned to his side as they walked on, she felt how the loose images were resurrecting memories... some of which slowly giving her the urge to respond to this man.

The way the Captain had just spoken revealed that he was not revealed of the truth that had occurred. Even if Delophane could not truly grasp the pure essence of what had happened over the last two days, she knew that there was veil covering the truth. The more her psyche revived the shattered images, the more her soul burned to speak.

The Tenreii Captain stopped.

Delophane awoke from her brief daydream and looked around. She froze as she spotted that they had left quite a distance between their current location and the center where they had started this walk. For whatever reason, her psyche had great fears of simply looking at the face of this man. His face always had remained a blurry image - even if she had the chance to stare him right in the eyes before. But even now, the injured Taiidan only made a very brief glimpse before looking ahead; noticing that they were actually just steps away from one of the many large screens at the edges of this cylindrical command center.

The screen was alike a window to the open world of space. Rows of pixels frequently jumped, easily revealing how the radiations of these dense clouds affected the sensorial systems. The two gazed _outwards_ upon a random arc of the vessel. Digital displays marked the hundreds of ships hovering amidst the clouds. Some of the vessels were so obscured that Delophane would not have noticed them if it were not for the tagged circles.

The note of an officer regarding a specific vessel caught her attention for the moment. When she looked towards the screen, she then witnessed the pixels of imagery flickering as the vessel engaged a hyperjump procedure. She had no idea of its mission or where it was going to - nothing other than this designated name, the _Eobi'Ri-Taiid_. Likely, it was just one of many vessels about to be dispatched for missions beyond all expectations.

"The Len'Tiirva Tenreii is a proud fleet. We have defended those in need and obliterated many others who oppose the will of His Shadow. We stand our grounds... but long have we known that we cannot stand forever, even with this fragile conglomerate - perhaps even with the Singularity Core... The ripples have already begun to disturb whatever one could call harmony amidst the calamities of _Curse_. I do not believe in _emotions_ and yet I sense that we may have unleashed something we cannot control - something that could overwhelm us... Something that certainly not even this proud and powerful conglomerate can withstand... I just... know it..."

Delophane petrified. There was no explanation to this reaction; whether it was a meaningless spike in the power grid that caused her skin to tingle or his very words. Though it was a sensational moment of fear, she felt the strange feeling within her stomach for that moment as well.

"As you know, Captain Lieutenant, there are _others _who are out there, lost in this perilous world as every other. I do not speak however of true Taiid fleets and single lost task groups blindly jumping through this treacherously veiled territories, vainly hoping to find a way out.

No, I speak of _others_ who are not of the Taiid bloodline but have proven their _loyalty_ and a sense of survival. Whether you have heard of this or not...

These _others_ can be considered as neutrals. With the ultimate fall of the armada's integrity, these specific bloodlines had discovered that in order to survive the madness of bloodspill that they would need to flee from the Mothership and the fleets around it for good. Though it may sound futile, they have survived. Somehow.

It will always remain a mystery, especially for them being a much smaller factions roaming around this blasted nebula. Even so, they survived. Some of them have only survived because they have always relied on the principles of their bloodkeii rather than ever entrusting any Taiid soul ever again.

They are not to be blamed. I am saying this freely as a proud officer. After all, it was the Taiid who brought them here to this century worth of miseries. They wish to survive as much as we do...

I have spoken more than enough and much time has been wasted..."

The Taiidan woman raised her head.

"After having ripped the very heart out of the Mothership, our Tenreii Conglomerate is now entitling a massive operation - An assault on one of the key atenreiis that appear to be a serious threat unless dealt with preemptively. Whether they are awaiting us or not, there will be blood... more than enough bloodkeii to be spilled.

However... Lieutenant Captain... And I am speaking to you by privilege and rank as a diplomatic officer of the _Len'Tiirva Taiid_ Tenreii... Your mission is a serious one, and I was forced to convince many throughout the council to at least hear me out. This mission is unlike what you have taken on.

Of course, our Tenreii has established contact with many friends, neutrals and foes ever, but amidst all, we have rarely established contact with a... Tenreii... or a flotilla like this one - We do not know of their size and numbers, but it is not our focus to gain intelligence over them.

You may not be aware of the term, but we refer to these as _Ismereii._"

_Ismereii... _

Yet another Taiid word of The Book with many metaphorical meanings. Several terms however were fitting: _Unknown, mysterious, mystical_.

"Ismereiis have by long remain a mystery to any of the Taiid'reiis. Even those that had been forcefully conquered and interrogated by means you cannot imagine, their secrets of survival had always remained a mystery. Their usually small numbers always managed to survive somehow. After all these decades...

It has come to reality that we have established contact with one these Ismereiis, one that is willing to operate with us as there is a fragile link between our fleets' agenda and... Well... it does not matter.

What matters is that they possess a mere flagship - a so-called clanship - of utter importance. Apparently, it is capable of deep space cartographies and can survive the harsh natures of the nebula for months, if not years, as easily proven already. The clanship and its apparent flotillas are more or less that of a viable and extremely effective scout taskforce...

Having established diplomatic links, we must now show them what we can offer, but also learn from them as they learn from our methods. Thus, Lieutenant Captain, you are to join their ranks as a liaison officer and to venture with their clanship on various scouting missions regarding ways how to unravel what remains shrouded throughout _Curse_. The clanship has also revealed to possess a reliable hyperdrive - rudimentary and crude, yet beyond capable. The actual goals of your mission will certainly unfold as you journey with them.

Thus, you are to dispatch... **immediately**."

Silence flew between the two. Delophane dropped her shoulders. This man meant **here and now**.

How was this to happen so suddenly? And why?

For one, she had just awoken from a severe case of a specific hypershock syndrome. Her average body had undergone agonizing stress from immense physical bullet traumas to insomnia. Just recently was she a mere frontline soldier who had suddenly risen the ranks to that of a diplomatic liaison officer.

But nothing burned her soul more than this dreadful past she witnessed. What about _Galis 12_? What about the masses of people who died and suffered? What about the soldiers of the honorable detachments she served with? She could not just let the people she loved to rot behind just like that.

The young woman could feel how the pulse was rising. Her breathing became audible as her eyes made erratic movements. The people of Galis 12 had hopes of survival for these last few years, and now they were to simply be left behind and forgotten...

The Tenreii Captain turned away, engaging a walk back to the center of the large cylindrical command center.

**No! She needed to respond!**

Delophane's body spun directly at the royal officer; her eyes full of fiery determination... Her voice cried out so loud that almost every corner could hear it.

"H-How can you let the people of the Mothership to die? We cannot let our people perish like this, not after what we have promised them. Thousands of soldiers have pledged to defend their lives. We are to protect them! We are responsible... I cannot just let them die like this... and neither should **you**!

Not like this, **fath-!**"

Her lips barely caught the last fraction of a word that nearly slipped form her mouth. It was a word so powerful that the many witnessed were shocked about the fact that this... farce.

An entire moment of her life swept before her eyes; her psyche finally recalling and witnessing the key moment when she had confronted, if not challenged and questioned the judgment of this majestic persona. Though standing elsewhere before, she had question his decisions and even more that of the entire Tenreii as well as how_ honorable soldiers_ such as he was could live with the guilt of sealing the fate of thousands of thousand civilians in need.

Delophane had gained the attention of the entire command center alike now, but not only had she verbally assaulted a Tenreii officer, she had truly disrespectfully referred to him by his name and his biological status rather than his honorable Taiid rank...

By far, the gravest of all mistakes...

Letting no more of this indulgence desecrate his honor, the Tenreii Captain acted harshly and with utter swiftness...

The weary Taiidan woman only saw the vicious rise of a palm...

_Then darkness_...

The Tenreii Captain swung around, but did not approach her as he saw how she immediately fell to her knees. She barely caught her fall by her arms. The half-naked woman moaned and shook her head.

"F-Forgive me... F-... Kaiigun Shoheii... for my indulgence. I- I shall dispatch at once..."

When she raised her head, she spotted the man pointing his sidearm right at her.

However, there was a response, a reaction; that not even a man of his pride expected. It was a reaction that he never witnessed before.

When Delophane finally had risen from the cold floor, she made a staggering approach towards him until the pistol's aim was dead perfect upon her chest. The aim was so well placed that it was indeed upon the specific spot that would mean sudden death, a spot that nobody else had noticed.

But this young woman knew that she had crossed the line, twice. The truth was that she had done the very same before...

There was rush of footsteps approaching from several sides - those of armed soldiers but also those of a young nervous officer. It was the 2nd lieutenant who was steps ahead of the group and spun around, desperately gesturing them to calm their aim.

"S-Shoheii, sir, please", he gasped, "This is all my fault. S-Sir, I had not *gasp* I had not informed the Lieutenant Captain of her actual wrong-doings of before d-despite knowing of the acute insomnia. I had not expected she would do the exact same, but I was a fool to believe so. N-Nevertheless..."

The young man was extremely nervous, but there was something that suddenly changed... It was the fact that he straightened his stance to a determined one.

"I take full responsibility for this event that should and could have easily been avoided if I had notified and reminded her of her indulgence, sir. But all of this is solely, my fault, not that of the Lieutenant Captain. I am ready, sir - in the name of His Shadow, I am ready to accept his... punishment..."

Decisive seconds went by... Until the supreme officer lowered his aim and turned away from the two.

"Out of my sight... and off of my ship... The both of you..."

Delophane raise her head. Before she said any other word, the young man swiftly rushed over to her, supporting her by the shoulder as he urged her to walk away... silently, and never to look back.


End file.
